By IRNA,
Islamabad : Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said in the parliament on Saturday that external forces will not be allowed to operate on its soil.
The American troops intruded into Pakistan’s tribal region of South Waziristan on September 3rd and killed around 20 people, including women and children, according to the provincial governor.
U.S drones regularly fire drones in the tribal regions to hit hideouts of suspected militants, but these attacks have also caused civilian casualties.
U.S defence secretary Robert Gates Thursday defended the policy to fire missiles in the Pakistani regions to eliminate militants.
“We will not tolerate the violation of our sovereignty and territorial integrity by any power in the name of combating terrorism,” Zardari told the joint sitting of the parliament.
Zardari was the first to address the parliament, the National Assembly and Senate, in five years as it is must for the President to address the parliament in the beginning of the parliamentary year.
Former President Pervez Musharraf addressed the parliament in 2004 amid strong uproar by the lawmakers. Musharraf did not address the parliament in four years.
“I ask of the government that it should be firm in its resolve not to allow its soil for carrying terrorist activities against any foreign country,” Zardari said.
Highlighting plans for the militancy-hit tribal regions, the President said a three-pronged strategy to deal with the militants that includes dialogue, development and use of force.
He said under the strategy the government is holding talks with those tribesmen who surrender weapons and renounce violence.
“The government will invest in the development in the societal uplift of the local people. The government will also use force as the last resort against those who refuse to surrender their arms, take the laws into their hands, challenge the writ of the government and attack the security forces”.
He said the world has become a dangerous place for nations with conflicts on their borders, adding, “We need peace not only in Pakistan but also in our neighborhood”.
He said under this strategy he invited the President of Afghanistan specially to his oath taking ceremony as mark of sincere designs and efforts to promote close and to strengthen relations with Afghanistan.
He said on the other side Pakistan also wants good relations with India, adding the government believes that relations between the two countries must be reinvented.