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Pakistan rejects Clinton’s claim on al-Qaeda chief

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Islamabad, May 8, IRNA -- Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar Monday asked United States to provide information on presence of al-Qaeda chief Ayman al Zawahiri's in Pakistan hours after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton claimed that Al Zawahiri is still hiding in Pakistan.

“We want to disable Al Qaeda. Al Zawahiri is still on the run somewhere in Pakistan,” Clinton said in the Indian city of Kolkata.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Khar was quick to dispute Clinton's statement and said, “If the United States has any solid intelligence information on the presence of al Qaeda leader in Pakistan, it should be shared with us so that the country can look into the matter accordingly”.

Khar was briefing the Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS) on the issue of the U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal regions and the recommendation of the last month’s Parliament on Pakistan-U.S. ties.

The parliament had unanimously passed a resolution, calling for immediate halt to U.S. drone strikes, the call rejected by Washington with launching two strikes in a week, which killed nearly 14 people.

Foreign Minister Khar said last week that the US does not listen to Pakistan over drone strikes, which Islamabad condemns as counterproductive in the war on terror and against the country’s sovereignty.

Relationship between the two countries had been affected after a NATO airstrike on two check posts that had killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November.

Khar said Monday that talks between Pakistan and the United States in light of the terms of engagement set by Parliament were still ongoing and may take some time to settle. She said there was no halt in the talks and the impression of failure was wrong.

The foreign minister said the US will hopefully respect the Pakistani parliament’s recommendations, which have been directly linked to the stoppage of drone strikes.

The parliament had also approved new terms of terms of engagements with the US and its NATO allies in Afghanistan and conditions for the reopening of NATO supply routes, closed after the NATO strike.

Clinton also said Washington wants Pakistan as a part of the counter terrorism war.

“About 30,000 Pakistanis have been killed in terror attacks, far more than have been killed in the U.S. or India,” remarked the US secretary of state, asserting it made a strong enough case for the government to act against the terror network.

Speaking on the terror question, Clinton said crushing Al Qaeda was the next big target of the US in the post-Osama Bin Laden world.

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Islamic Republic News Agency/IRNA NewsCode: 80119327