RAWALPINDI: Army Chief General Raheel Sharif met American Ambassador to Pakistan David Hale on Wednesday and expressed grave concerns over the recent drone attack by the United States that killed Mullah Akhtar Mansour inside the boundaries of Pakistan, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) press release reported.
Army Chief reportedly said that such attacks are a severe threat to the sovereignty and autonomy of Pakistan. He said that drone attacks on the soil of Pakistan are detrimental to the bilateral ties and counter-productive to the peace process in Afghanistan. He said that the sacrifices and successes of the Pakistan Army in fight against terrorism are matchless. Earlier, the drone attack had also been condemned by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who termed it as a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty. A protest has also been lodged with US in this regard.
Soon after the ISPR press release, Daily Times took the opinions of political analysts about this new strife born between the two countries as a result of the drone attack. Air Vice Marshall (R) and defence analyst Shahid Latif said that we are immensely involved in the peace process in Afghanistan and we have achieved some successes too, but if US kills on the one hand and asks for negotiations on the other then that is just not possible. Answering a question as to how seriously Americans will take the current strife, he said, “We are affiliated with US since the beginning of the war on terror. We have made incredible sacrifices and are still making them. US authorities need to take this into account and it is important for us too”. On another occasion he said that US and India are on the same page in this case while both of those countries have conflicts with Pakistan. This attack clearly reveals a conspiracy to defame Pakistan in the international arena with the blemish of terrorism and also to nullify the accomplishments that Pakistan has made in way of achieving peace in Afghanistan. He also said that it is the third time that US had made such an attack within Pakistan’s borders. Osama Bin Laden was killed in a similar fashion and that also besmirched Pakistan’s international image by a great deal.
Political commentator Dr Moeed Pirzada said that Americans only want to use Pakistan’s forces as a mercenary army to attack Taliban within its own territory and also help Afghan army to attack Taliban there. He said that this is the main point of contention between US and Pakistan, therefore current state of chaos goes in their favor, as greater the chaos will be, the easier it will be for them to pressurize Pakistan. He said that Americans blocked aid and the delivery of F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan whenever they willed and the senate and the government passed bills to restrict funding. All these moves are decided and dictated by the intelligence agencies and their main plan is only to use Pakistan Army at their own will, he added. He also said that what has not been accomplished by joint forces of so many countries, now the Americans want Pakistan to achieve that. They think that Taliban had received sympathies and safe havens from Pakistan so now they want Pakistan’s Army to attack them.
Brigadier (R) Ghanzanfar Ali also spoke on the matter and said that Americans continue to say that Pakistan is fighting war of terror but they attack on Pakistan whenever they wish. He added that the argument given by US that killing Mullah Akhtar means that Sirajuddin Haqqani will come at the helm and that will ease the peace process sand negotiations is completely false as Haqqani does not not reside in Afghnistan and therefore cannot become the Ameer, as residency in Afghanistan is a condition for the Ameer. He said that dichotomies are apparent in the US policies and statements and US is only doing all this because peace in Afghanistan does not suit to their interests. India and America need chaos in Afghanistan because peace in Afghanistan means peace in Pakistan and that is detrimental to their own aims for control in the area.
