Islamabad: Pakistan on Saturday rejected US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta’s remarks about the presence of militant “safe havens” in the country, saying such statements were “misplaced” and “unhelpful” in bringing about peace and stability in the region.
“Pakistan strongly rejects the assertions made recently by US Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta regarding ‘safe havens’ in Pakistan,” Foreign Office spokesman Moazzam Khan said in a statement.
“We strongly believe that such statements are misplaced and unhelpful in bringing about peace and stability in the region,” he added.
Khan’s statement came a day after Pakistan’s envoy to the US Sherry Rehman said Panetta’s remarks had further reduced the space for narrowing bilateral differences.
“It adds an unhelpful twist to the process and leaves little oxygen for those of us seeking to break a stalemate,” she had said. During recent visits to India and Afghanistan, Panetta had criticised Pakistan for not doing enough to tackle militants in its tribal areas responsible for cross-border attacks in Afghanistan.
Speaking in Kabul on Thursday, Panetta said the US was losing patience with Pakistan on the issue of militant safe havens on the Pakistani side of the border. While in Delhi, he said the US would continue drone strikes against militants in Pakistan’s tribal belt despite protests from Islamabad that the attacks violate its sovereignty.
Responding to these remarks, Foreign Office spokesman Khan said: “We feel that the Secretary of Defence is oversimplifying some of the very complex issues we are all dealing with in our efforts against extremism and terrorism. “These issues need to be seen in the context of overall peace and stability in Afghanistan and the broader region.”
Meanwhile, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has sought to play down US warnings that its patience was running thin over terror safe heavens on its territory, saying the bilateral ties will become normal in the course of time.
“We (US-Pak) have mutual interests. Slowly but surely, we will get back to normal relations,” Zardari, who is in China to attend the just concluded Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, told China Daily.
Zaradri, who is here on his ninth visit to China, was reacting to US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s comments that Washington is “reaching the limits of patience” with Pakistan on the issue of terror safe havens on the Pakistani territory. About the SCO, Zardari said: “the SCO is very young, and obviously it is taking its own time to grow. But it shows the world that this is the path we’re taking.”(PTI)