Pakistani govt comes under fire over U.S. strike
Pakistani govt comes under fire over U.S. strike
ISLAMABAD (AFP): Pakistan's government is coming under
mounting pressure from military and religious figures to come
clean over whether it supplied vital information to the United
States for last Thursday's missile strikes on Afghanistan.
Former army chief Mirza Aslam Beg, in a statement published
yesterday, alleged the government allowed U.S. intelligence
agencies to operate on Pakistani soil to track down Osama bin
Laden, one of the targets of the attacks.
Beg demanded that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif disclose what
cooperation his government had given the U.S. and said American
warships had been in Pakistani waters for about two weeks.
"The government should come out with the truth," demanded
retired general Hamid Gul, former head of the military's Inter-
Services Intelligence.
Gul said Saturday that U.S. cruise missiles aimed at Afghan
guerrilla bases had violated Pakistani sovereignty by using its
airspace.
"America has committed aggression against our territorial
waters, sovereignty and airspace," he said, urging the government
to demand an unconditional apology from Washington and break all
relations if one was not forthcoming.
Islamabad has voiced its "indignation" at the U.S. raids on
targets in Afghanistan and Sudan, calling them a violation of the
sovereignty of independent states.
Osama, who is blamed for the Aug. 7 bombings at U.S. embassies
in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam that left 257 dead, has promised
retaliation for the strikes.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said the government did not
allow any use of its territory for the attack on what the U.S.
called terrorist training bases in Afghanistan. But accusations
persist.
The head of the religious Jamiat Ulema Islam party, Maulana
Fazlur Rehman, said the government's "patriotism has become
doubtful," adding it was a "security risk" and had lost the right
to rule.
"Let Sharif swear on the Koran (the Moslem holy book) that no
help was provided to the U.S.," said Rehman, who is known for his
links to Afghanistan's hardline Taleban Islamic militia.
Defense experts quoted by The Muslim newspaper said either
Pakistani radar systems were jammed or the strike happened with
"prior information and consent" of the Pakistani authorities.
"The government has to admit either the country's security is
not adequate to check an intruder or the intruder was allowed
deliberately," one expert was quoted as saying.
Pakistan has said it did not detect the violation but has
protested to Washington on the assumption that the missiles flew
through its airspace.
The so-called "undetected" violation has raised the crucial
question of how safe Pakistan's vital security installations are,
the experts said.
Religious leaders have warned the government against any show
of weakness in its dealings with the U.S. But one analyst who
declined to be named said the government finds itself
"precariously balanced on two stools."
It does not want to become embroiled in a diplomatic row with
the United States, especially when U.S.-led sanctions following
the May nuclear tests are hurting an economy already in desperate
straits. At the same time the administration does not want to be
too distant from public opinion.
The embarrassed government meanwhile fired its erring
intelligence boss after having to retract a statement that one
U.S. missile had killed six people on Pakistani soil.
Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmed, director general of the Intelligence
Bureau, was sacked a day after a foreign ministry spokesman said
Pakistan had protested to the United States over the incident but
later withdrew the information.
The government said Ahmed was responsible for the blunder. It
said no missile hit Pakistani territory.