By IRNA,
Islamabad : Pakistani political/defense analyst Lt Gen (Retd) Talat Masood on Thursday said that Pakistan would lose its sovereignty if US extends its war against terror to Pakistani tribal area.
Talking to IRNA, Masood said that Pakistan wouldn’t allow US to carry out independent actions in tribal area and kill innocent people in the name of war on terror.
He added that US is trying to widen its war to Pakistan tribal area, which would be impossible without the support of Pakistan.
The United States Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen in a statement said that US is working on a revised approach to the conflict “that covers both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border”.
Talat Masood said that the main question is whether that area is US’s responsibility or Pakistan’s responsibility.
Besides air strikes, helicopter-borne American Special Operations forces recently attacked in a Pakistani village near the Afghan border — the first publicly acknowledged case of US forces having conducted a ground raid on Pakistani soil.
Previously, allied forces in Afghanistan occasionally carried out air strikes and artillery attacks in the border region of Pakistan.
Pakistan is passing through a dilemma now days as on one hand they want to cooperate with United States but on the other hand US has been grossly violating our sovereignty, Talat Masood said.
He was of the view that Pakistan may respond to these actions by cutting logistic support to the NATO forces so that they could be pushed away from the Pakistani tribal area.
He said that Pakistan has long term relations with the US and Pakistan has fully supported it in war against terror.
He also lauded Pakistani Army Chief’s recent statement in which he has rejected US claims that the rules of engagement gave the coalition forces in Afghanistan the right to enter Pakistan.
He said General Kayani’s statement shows that Pakistan is going to change its policy on war on terror.
Talat Masood said that Pakistani forces are only fighting against militants who are challenging the writ of the government.
He added that Pakistan army is trained to fight in conventional style and they are not quite comfortable in fighting against guerrilla war.
He suggested that Pakistan army has to change its doctrine of war.
Army needs training and special kind of ammunition to fight against this kind of war but it is very difficult to fight against your own people, he said.
He said that the government is very hesitant in using the force against its own people.
Talat Masood is a retired lieutenant general of the Pakistan Army and a political and defense analyst.
He writes on security and political issues in national newspapers and foreign magazines and is a prominent commentator on national and international television and radio networks.
He had signed a multi million-dollar contract with UDLP as Secretary Defense Production shortly before his retirement.
He is currently a visiting fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington DC.