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| India-Pakistan |
| Quetta Shura |
| 2009-10-02 |
| [The News (Pak) Top Stories] The government on Thursday expressed its 'surprise' at the latest volatile interview of US Ambassador Anne W Patterson and said there was clearly a "huge disconnect" between Washington and the US Embassy in Islamabad. In the latest interview to the media, Patterson had claimed the Taliban leadership was hiding in Balochistan and coordinating anti-US operations from Quetta. After reports in the US media, including the interview of Ambassador Patterson, Deputy Chief of the Mission at the US Embassy Gerald M Feierstein told the media on Thursday that Osama bin Laden was alive and that the Taliban leadership, including Mullah Omar, was present in Quetta. Asked to comment on these allegations, the Foreign Office spokesman told The News: "This is all very speculative. Pakistan, as the world is acknowledging, has shown zero tolerance to terrorism. The US has passed real-time intelligence to Pakistan in the past and we have acted on it. Similarly, if the US claims to have such intelligence about the Taliban activities in Quetta, then they should pass it on to us." Another senior official, who was privy to the New York meetings, told The News, "In meetings at the highest level in New York recently, this issue of the Quetta Shura did not arise. A passing reference was made to old reports about Balochistan but they (US participants) insisted that they could not confirm the same. No great concern was shown nor was there any mention of future strikes in Balochistan. We were asked to intensify our efforts but nothing of the sort that we are hearing from the US Embassy. There appears to be a very serious disconnect between Washington and the US Embassy here." Responding to a query, the official ceded this "disconnect" had been there for several years now but did not elaborate on the government's possible response to this latest serious development. Normally, the US ambassador is summoned and a protest note handed over by the foreign secretary. On Wednesday, another official told The News the government at the military level had already taken up the matter directly with Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman Joint Chief of Staff, and General David Petraeus of the US Central Command. It remains to be seen how the Ministry of Foreign Affairs handles these allegations. |
| Posted by:Fred |