US drones in Pakistan multiply militants: FM tells Russian TV
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Islamabad, Feb 9, IRNA -- The U.S. drones hitting targets on Pakistani territory is illegal, and involvement of the Pakistani spy agencies with Taliban not even worthy of comment, Pakistan’s foreign minister said in an interview with Russian English news channel RT on Thursday.
Attacks by US drones on Pakistani territory are illegal and cannot be tolerated, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar told RT.
On Thursday, a US drone strike killed four people in the Pakistani northwest tribal region.
On Wednesday nine people were killed in another attack, including some Taliban fighters.
They follow the tension between the Pakistani government and the US administration over American air strikes last year that accidentally killed 24 Pakistani troops.
According to the minister, the US attacks promote extremist moods in the region.
“Drones are not only completely illegal and unlawful and have no authorization to be used within the domains of international law but even more importantly, they are counter-productive to the objective of getting this region rid of militancy, and terrorism and extremism,” Hina Rabbani Khar said.
“Because if one strike leads to getting you target number one or target number three today, you are creating five more targets or 10 more targets in the militancy that it breeds, in the fodder that it gives to the militants to attract more people to join their ranks,” Pakistan first woman and youngest foreign minister said.
“We are today in Pakistan suffering from the consequences of what many other powers of the world decided to do in that region to rid itself of the challenge that appeared in 1979, which was the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan,” she added.
“In trying to deal with that we have created certain groups which are today a challenge to everybody.”
Allegations that the Pakistani security forces maintain close contact with Taliban and even sponsor them are old and do not even “worth a comment,” Hina Rabbani Khar told RT.
“I think every intelligence agency in the world maintains ties with one group or the other and all of them at some level. These ties are now pretty much out at the open because people are openly talking about talking to these people. This is something which is not even worth a comment,” Khar said.
In the meantime, the foreign minister also met Russian Minister of Energy Sergei Shmatko and sought Russian cooperation to overcome energy crisis in Pakistan.
Officials said that the Russian minister had expressed his interest in energy projects in Pakistan.
“Both the sides are agreed to promote cooperation on energy sector,” Russian official said.
Khar along with Russian counterpart on Wednesday said Pakistan needed Russian cooperation in energy sector.
She said that she had discussed different trade options with Russian Foreign Minister, adding that both the countries were interested in better trade relations.
She said Russia’s interest in Thar coal project was appreciable and added that joint efforts were needed to produce energy from Thar coal.
The Pakistani foreign minister said she had invited Russian foreign minister to visit Pakistan. She said both the countries would open centers for business community.
Islamic Republic News Agency/IRNA NewsCode: 30809603
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