Pakistan's major Islamic party said Sunday that the United States is planning attacks on the country's tribal regions, adding that the whole nation will fight back if the U.S. dared any such action.
"If the United States violated our frontiers, we will have the right to declare a war," Chief of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan Qazi Hussain Ahmed told a news conference Sunday in Peshawar, the capital of the North West Frontier Province.
"Pakistani nation will show resistance if the United States tried to interfere. Any action against our interest would be declaration of war," Ahmed said.
The concern was expressed a day after U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen paid an unannounced visit to Pakistan.
Mullen, whose visit was sudden and not announced earlier, met Pakistan's Army Chief General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani, according to local media.
The officials and the U.S embassy were also tight lipped over the visit, which took place amidst reports that the U.S was planning action in Pakistan's tribal areas against al-Qaida and Taliban militants.
Senior U.S security officials insist that al-Qaida is sending foreign fighters to Pakistan's tribal regions to plan attacks.
Afghan officials also complain that al-Qaida and Taliban are planning attacks inside Afghanistan in the Pakistani tribal regions.
"Any American intervention will be considered as action against the country," the Jamaat-e-Islami leader said.
"We want to ask friends of the United States that if the U.S goes for enmity, we will also adopt the same policy. If the Americans treat us as a friend, we will react in the same way," Ahmed said.
He asked the government to end the so-called alliance with the United States, adding that there is a need to strengthen relations with Muslim nations.
"The U.S should quit Afghanistan and Iraq and Palestinians should be given their rights," the Jamaat leader said.
Ahmed dispelled the impression that the northwestern city of Peshawar is facing any threat from the local Taliban.
"There is no threat to Peshawar from the local Taliban. There is threat to the country from the United States and American agents," he said.
Source:Xinhua
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