Thursday 21 July 2011

US promises not to repeat Osama-like raid: PM

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said that he received US assurances there will be no repeat of the unilateral raid that killed Osama Bin Laden in May.

Prime Minister made this remark during an interview with a British daily.

"Since we were sharing information with US and there was a tremendous relationship with the CIA and ISI, therefore we could have done a joint operation in Abbottabad, but it didn't happen. Therefore we had a lot of reservations," Gilani said.

He added: "They have assured us in future there will be no unilateral actions in Pakistan, and there would be co-operation between both agencies."

Gilani said he had received the assurance personally from the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton. In her public statements, however, Clinton has declared the US would strike unilaterally against other top militants if others did not.

He said any repeat of the Abbottabad raid would be "totally unacceptable".

"Public opinion would further aggravate against the United States and you cannot fight a war without the support of the masses. You need the masses to support military actions against militants," he said.

He said another raid would damage "not only our relationship, but also our common objective, to fight against militants. We are fighting a war and if we fail that means that it's not good for the world. We can't afford losing."

After the raid against Bin Laden, the Pakistani government said it had stopped the US launching drones from its territory in pursuit of militants in tribal areas. Nevertheless, drone strikes on the Pakistani side of the border with Afghanistan have continued.

"We don't allow our bases to be used. They have other bases they use," Gilani said. Asked where those bases were, he replied: "I don't know. You ask the Americans. This is a question to put to them."

The prime minister added: "Drone attacks are against our strategy too, because we have been isolating the militants from the local population and when there are drone attacks they get united again."

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