ISLAMABAD: Pakistan termed as ‘misplaced and self-contradictory’ the remarks by the United States that Pakistan was being selective in targeting militants and did not go after the groups threatening its neighbours.
The Foreign Office Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said in a statement, “We have taken a serious note of the remarks made by the US Department of State’s deputy spokesman Mark Toner which are self-contradictory and oblivious of the fact that Pakistan has taken concrete measures to counter terrorism in a phase-wise manner keeping in view Pakistan’s national security concerns.”
Zakaria said that during their recent visit Senator John McCain and other US legislators and congressmen were unanimous in acknowledging the remarkable achievements made by Pakistan in its counterterrorism drive. “They visited Miranshah and observed the situation on ground for themselves,” he added, noting that Senator McCain on his return also wrote an article on his experience in Pakistan.
He reiterated that militancy was more of a concern to Pakistan than its neighbour. “The arrest of the neighbour’s active service officer who publicly confessed his state’s involvement in perpetrating and financing terrorist and subversive activities in Pakistan surprisingly did not prompt any statement by the US,” he said, without naming India.
He added, “I also wish to remind the US deputy spokesman of the statement by Mr Chuck Hagel in February 2013 that Pakistan’s neighbour uses the soil of another neighbour of Pakistan to finance instability in Pakistan.” He said that General McChrystal’s 2009 report had also mentioned that the neighbour’s activities from the territory of another of Pakistan’s neighbour and that they could be detrimental to stability in Pakistan and the region.
He went on to say that the factors behind spread of militancy in Pakistan and the colossal losses inflicted on Pakistan in terms of loss of over 60,000 innocent lives and billions of dollars to the economy are obvious now. Given these ground realities together with the inhuman treatment meted out by the neighbour’s forces to the defence-less and innocent Kashmiri’s struggling for their right to self-determination, he said, “The remarks of Toner are misplaced and are not sensitive to Pakistan’s security concerns.”
Earlier, the US had alleged Pakistan of going after militant groups ‘selectively’ and had urged Islamabad to eliminate all groups, even those that might not threaten Pakistan itself but threaten its neighbours.
