Pakistan on Thursday hit back at mounting US demands for action against Al-Qaeda-linked extremists, refusing to be pressured into doing more in the war on terror.
Washington says it is conducting a final review on whether to blacklist the network linked to Pakistani intelligence as a terror group, which risks then exposing Islamabad to economic sanctions.
US top military officer Admiral Mike Mullen accused Pakistan of exporting violent extremism to Afghanistan and called the Haqqani network a “veritable arm” of its Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency.
“American statements shocked us, and negate our sacrifices and successes in the ongoing war against terror,” Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told the APC.
American officials want Pakistan to launch an offensive against the Haqqanis, but the military says it is too over-stretched fighting local Taliban to open a new front against a US enemy that does not pose a threat to Pakistan.
“Pakistan cannot be pressurised to do more,” Gilani said. “Our doors are open for dialogue,” he added.
Islamabad officially denies any support for Haqqani attacks in Afghanistan, but has nurtured Pashtun warlords for decades as means of influencing events across the border and offsetting the might of arch-rival India.
Pakistan won’t do more in war on terror: Gilani
