Pakistan denies plan to operate along border with US forces

A top Pakistani military officer Wednesday dismissed remarks by US Lt. Gen. David Barno, commander of the coalition forces in Afghanistan, that Pakistan is planning to launch an operation against militants in its North Waziristan tribal region.

"No operation is planned in North Waziristan," Lt. Gen. Safdar Hussain, military operations chief in Pakistan's North West Frontier province, told reporters in the provincial capital city of Peshawar to brief them about his meeting with Barno on Tuesday, the independent News Network International reported.

"I told General Barno that the statement about operation is figment of his imagination," Safdar said. He also denied any plan about a joint operation by Pakistani and American forces.

Barno said in the US embassy in Islamabad on Monday that Pakistani army was set to begin a major operation against foreign suspects and their local supporters in the trial area bordering Afghanistan. Barno was in Pakistan to represent the United States at a meeting of the Tripartite Commission on April 18, which also groups Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Barno reportedly said that the US forces prepared to undertake a spring offensive in Afghanistan as it was launched in Pakistan's North Waziristan.

Safdar condemned Barno's statement and described it as incorrect. He said Pakistan is a sovereign country and makes decisions on its own.

"We do not take any dictation from anyone and operation will be launched if it is needed," Safdar said, adding "We are achieving objectives without firing bullets."

To a question about Osama bin Laden, Safdar said the al-Qaeda chief was not in Pakistan and Pakistan had deployed some 70,000 troops in the tribal region along the border with Afghanistan to hunt down suspected militants. Some 669 check posts had also been set up to capture wanted people, he disclosed.

In March last year, Pakistani forces began large-scale operations against suspected al-Qaeda militants and tribesmen supporting them in South Waziristan. The army believes hundreds of foreign Islamic militants including Arabs, Afghans and Central Asians are holed up in the region.

Source: Xinhua