By NNN-APP,
Washington : Stressing that Pakistan itself would take anti-terrorism actions on its side of the Afghan border, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has categorically denied any understanding with the U.S. on allowing unilateral strikes into its territory.
“No. We believe in sovereignty of the country. And naturally, nobody likes it,” he told Public Broadcasting Service when asked if the country had any understanding on permitting unilateral anti-terror strikes on its side of the Afghan border.
“We have discussed with them—I’ve given our strategy to them. If there is a credible or actionable information, and you give it to us, we’ll perform the duty ourselves. And in future, there would be more cooperation on the intelligence side,” he added.
The Pakistani leader, who met with President Bush at the Oval Office on Monday, said he discussed more cooperation in the area of intelligence sharing.
“Certainly, I said that there should be more cooperation between the intelligence agencies and a credible, actionable information should be given so that we shall take the action ourselves, because we believe in our sovereignty,” he told the channel, when asked if he raised the issue.
He said the US president agreed that there should be greater cooperation on the intelligence side, and expressed US respect for sovereignty of Pakistan.
The prime minister dismissed reports as “disinformation” the exaggerated numbers about the foreign fighters who may be hiding on the Pakistani side of the border.
“And if there are, we are always against them. And we don’t allow in the tribal system that they should be allowed to protect them. And if there’s any such violations, we take action against them”.