Pakistan rebuffs Karzai warning
June 17, 2008 - 0:0
ISLAMABAD (BBC) -- Pakistan has warned it will not tolerate any violations of its borders.
Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gillani said Pakistan did not interfere with other countries and would not allow any interference in its affairs.His warning came after Afghan President Hamid Karzai threatened to send troops over the border into Pakistan to confront militants based there.
He said his nation had the right to retaliate in “self-defense” when militants crossed over from Pakistan.
But Mr. Gilani responded that the border between their two countries was too long to police.
“Neither do we interfere in anyone else's matters, nor will we allow anyone to interfere in our territorial limits and our affairs,” Mr. Gillani told the Associated Press news agency.
President Hamid Karzai says his country has a right to defend itself “We want a stable Afghanistan. It is in our interest. How can we go to destabilize our brotherly country?”
Mr. Karzai's remarks came two days after Taleban fighters attacked an Afghan jail, freeing some 900 inmates, including 350 Taleban members.
The Afghan president has long pleaded for Pakistan and international forces to confront militants in Pakistan but has never before threatened to send troops over the border.
He said: “Afghanistan has the right of self-defense. When they cross the territory from Pakistan to come and kill Afghans and to kill coalition troops it exactly gives us the right to go back and do the same.”
Mr. Karzai warned he was prepared to seek out Taleban leaders wherever they were, specifically naming Baitullah Mehsud, who is based in South Waziristan, Pakistan.
“Baitullah Mehsud should know that we will go after him now and hit him in his house,” Mr. Karzai said, adding that Taleban leader Mullah Omar could expect the same.
The BBC's Quil Lawrence in Kabul says it is the strongest language yet from Mr. Karzai on his neighbor.
Some 20 escapees from Kandahar prison have been recaptured in the manhunt by Afghan and international troops, according to Afghan officials.
NATO said at least 17 insurgents had been killed but did not confirm whether any fugitives from the jail were among the dead.
A former Taleban stronghold, Kandahar is one of the key battlegrounds in the insurgency against Afghanistan's government and troops from NATO and a U.S.-led coalition.