Pak refutes secret pact to allow unilateral US strikes on its territory
4 Jul 2008, 1106 Hrs

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Islamabad, July 4 (ANI): Pakistan Foreign Office has strongly reacted to top US military man Mike Mullen's recent statement regarding the US having a right to strike targets inside Pakistani territory. FO spokesman said in Islamabad that no body had the right to take action inside Pakistan in the war on terror.

He said that only the Pakistani troops could take action against the terrorists inside its territory.

"Pakistan has once again clarified that on the Pakistan side of the border along Afghanistan, it is the Pakistani troops who have the sole responsibility to take action against the terrorists," FO spokesman Muhammad Sadiq said in a weekly briefing.

Earlier, on Wednesday, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen had reportedly said that he had all the authority for targeting senior Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders inside Pakistan's tribal areas from across the Afghanistan border. But, he refused to say if the US troops were also allowed to operate inside the Pakistan territory. "I'm comfortable, as the military leader, that I have all the authorities I need," he said when asked if he had the authority to target key terrorist leaders hiding in FATA.

Reacting to his statement, Sadiq said that on the Afghan side of the border, the Afghan National Army (ANA), ISAF and the US army could take whatever action they wanted against the terrorists, but not from the Pakistani soil.

Sadiq said that the Afghan government had requested Pakistan to launch an inquiry into the beheading of two of its citizens by Pakistani Taliban in the country's tribal region. Pakistan has asked Afghanistan to share information about Afghans killed in Bajaur Agency by militants, Sadiq said.

He said, "Pakistan has asked the Afghan government to provide names, passport numbers, visa particulars and the purpose for which the two Afghan were visiting Bajaur Agency." (ANI)