... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ...
, Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir on Saturday called in US Ambassador Cameron Munter to lodge a strong protest on the unprovoked NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants...
attack on Pakistain border posts in the
Mohmand... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar...
Agency.
The secretary conveyed to the US ambassador that the unprovoked attack by NATO/Isaf aircraft on border posts, in which 24 Pak troops bit the dust and another 13 were maimed, had deeply incensed the government and the people of Pakistain, according to a press statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"The president, prime minister and the government of Pakistain strongly condemn the attacks which were totally unacceptable, constituted a grave infringement of Pakistain's illusory sovereignty, were violative of international law and a serious transgression of the oft conveyed red lines and could have serious repercussions on Pakistain-US/NATO/Isaf cooperation", the statement said.
The Ambassador was informed that the prime minister had convened an emergency meeting of the Defence Committee of the Cabinet to evaluate the situation arising from these uncalled for attacks by NATO/Isaf forces.
Strong protest has also been lodged in Washington and at the NATO Headquarters in Brussels, the statement added.
On the other hand, Munter expressed regret for the loss of life in cross-border Incident in Mohmand Agency.
In a statement issued by US embassy, Munter says "I have seen press accounts of an incident on the Pak-Afghan border in which Pak soldiers were reportedly killed.
I regret the loss of life of any Pak servicemen, and pledge that the United States will work closely with Pakistain to investigate this incident."