WASHINGTON : The United States’ unilateral operations in Pakistan would bea “red line” for the nations’ bilateral relations, Interior Minister AhsanIqbal said Tuesday night in an interview to CNN, warning its ally torefrain from bullying tactics.
Iqbal reiterated that the people of Pakistan “are dignified” and that thecountry desires friendship with the US “based on mutual trust and respect”.
“Any effort to try to bully or coerce Pakistan will be counterproductive,”the minister stressed, adding that intimidating, threatening or forcingIslamabad would be a detrimental move on the part of the US.
Iqbal explained that Pakistan does not want financial assistance butdesires trade and developmental partnerships. Whatever monetary aid the UShas offered was nothing extraordinary.
Any attack on or conspiracy against Pakistan’s interests, however, will beresponded to accordingly, Iqbal warned.
He further stated that Islamabad is ready to work for peace incollaboration with global fraternity and desires linkages with the US basedon mutual respect.
The interior minister noted that the Afghanistan peace issue requires notjust a military solution but a political one as well. He mentioned that theUS keeps putting the onus of its failures in Afghanistan on Pakistan.
“To have the final outcome in Afghanistan, to have peace and stability, weneed to follow a comprehensive approach,” he said.
“We need to have a military option but also a political option. BothAfghanistan and Pakistan’s legitimate security concerns and interests mustbe incorporated in the approach that we follow in that region.”
It is necessary for the US and Pakistan to work together for peace effortsin Afghanistan, Iqbal underscored, but Washington needs to change the wayit looks at South Asia, especially Afghanistan.
“Any unilateral action in Pakistan would be a red line for Pakistan. Wewant to have a friendship which is based on mutual trust and respect.”
Answering a question about Pakistan, US relations, he said that US needs tosee these relations from its own independent perspective and not throughprism of India.
Interior Minister said that no country in the world has rendered as muchsacrifices and made contributions more than Pakistan in the fight againstterrorism in the recent past. He said that we lost more than 60,000 peopleand the country incurred more than $25 billion loss in war against terror
Nonetheless, Pakistan has fought and will keep waging the war againstterrorism not for the US or its financial assistance but for the safety andsecurity of Pakistanis. He said that we are the first country that facesthe cost of instability and we are the first country that gets dividend ofpeace in Afghanistan.