General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani. File photo
- Army chief says US general knows names of countries in contact with Haqqanis
LAHORE/NEW YORK - Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani, after accusations of US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, termed these (accusations) as very unfortunate and not based on facts, a statement released by the Inter Services Public Relations said on Friday.
“This is especially disturbing in view of a rather constructive meeting with Admiral Mullen in Spain,” the ISPR quoted the army chief as saying. In an unprecedented public condemnation on Thursday, Admiral Mullen said that the “Inter-Services Intelligence agency was actively supporting a network linked to al Qaeda and blamed for an assault on the US Embassy in Kabul last week.”
On the specific question of contacts with Haqqanis, General Kayani said that Admiral Mullen knows well which countries were in contact with Haqqanis. “Singling out Pakistan is neither fair nor productive,” he said. He categorically denied accusations of proxy war and ISI support to Haqqanis.
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar also dismissed Mullen’s remarks, saying they were unproven. "You cannot afford to alienate Pakistan," she said in comments broadcast on Friday from New York City, where she is attending a UN General Assembly meeting.
"Anything which is said about an ally, about a partner publicly to recriminate it, to humiliate it, is not acceptable. We have conveyed (to the US) that you will lose an ally,” she said.
“This is especially disturbing in view of a rather constructive meeting with Admiral Mullen in Spain,” the ISPR quoted the army chief as saying. In an unprecedented public condemnation on Thursday, Admiral Mullen said that the “Inter-Services Intelligence agency was actively supporting a network linked to al Qaeda and blamed for an assault on the US Embassy in Kabul last week.”
On the specific question of contacts with Haqqanis, General Kayani said that Admiral Mullen knows well which countries were in contact with Haqqanis. “Singling out Pakistan is neither fair nor productive,” he said. He categorically denied accusations of proxy war and ISI support to Haqqanis.
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar also dismissed Mullen’s remarks, saying they were unproven. "You cannot afford to alienate Pakistan," she said in comments broadcast on Friday from New York City, where she is attending a UN General Assembly meeting.
"Anything which is said about an ally, about a partner publicly to recriminate it, to humiliate it, is not acceptable. We have conveyed (to the US) that you will lose an ally,” she said.
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