In-focus

Pakistan

Action against Haqqani group if it interferes in Pak affairs: Army

Dunya News

Gen. Asif said action against Haqqani group would be taken if it interferes in Pakistan affairs.

Army commander said Pakistan military has no plans to launch a new offensive in a tribal region. The statement by Lt Gen Asif Yasin Malik contradicted rampant media speculation that an operation in North Waziristan was in the works after years of requests for it from the United States.Malik’s dismissal came as police said a cross-border insurgent attack elsewhere in the northwest killed five security troops on Wednesday.The general oversees military operations in the tribal areas and other parts of the northwest bordering Afghanistan. He spoke to reporters on a military-hosted trip to Orakzai, one of the tribal regions where the army has attacked Taliban and other extremists.His reasoning for holding off on an offensive in North Waziristan was the same advanced by other army officials in recent years that Pakistani troops are too stretched going after insurgents elsewhere. Unlike the major militant groups in North Waziristan, the insurgent groups Pakistan has targeted tend to stage most of their attacks inside Pakistan.There is no change in North Waziristan in past months and weeks, Malik said. We will undertake an operation when we want to, when its in the national interest.Local media reports have recently suggested that Pakistan may have been persuaded to carry out a limited operation in North Waziristan soon as a means of rebuilding ties with the United States, which have been badly damaged by the May 2 American raid that killed Osama Bin Laden.Pakistani leaders insist they had no idea the al-Qaida chief was hiding Abbottabad. But they have called the unilateral US incursion a violation of their sovereignty.