Pak warns India against any Osama-like operation

Islamabad, May 5 (PTI) Pakistan on Thursday warned India
against any Abbottabad-like operation, saying any such
"misadventure" would lead to a "terrible catastrophe."
Indian Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir also accused
Indian establishment and armed forces of trying to subvert the
agenda of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by making statements
which were "a matter of concern".
Any country that attempts to "mimic" the unilateral act
of the US will find it has made a "basic miscalculation",
Bashir said at the first news conference by a senior Pakistani
official on the killing of al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in
the garrison city of Abbottabad near here by special US forces
on Monday.
"We see a lot of bravado in our own region. There have
been statements that have come from across (the border), by
senior people from the military and air force, which state
that this can be repeated.
"We feel that sort of misadventure or miscalculation
would result in a terrible catastrophe," he said in his
opening remarks.
He made the remarks in the wake of the statement by army
chief Gen V K Singh that Indian forces had the capability to
mount raids like the pre-dawn assault by US special forces
that resulted in the killing of bin Laden.
Stressing on the military strength of Pakistan, Bashir
said if any country would ever act on the assumption that it
has a might to unilateralism of any sorts, as far as Pakistan
is concerned, will find themselves indulging in misadventure.
"There should be no doubt that Pakistan has adequate
capacity to ensure its own defence," he said.
Responding to a query on the remarks of Indian military
officials about mounting a raid against leaders of Pak-based
terror groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Bashir said such
comments are "a matter of concern".
"I only see them as symptomatic of trends and tendencies
within the Indian establishment and their armed forces to
subvert the agenda of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. I don't
think the Indian leadership would really subscribe to this".
Bashir highlighted the need for a "serious constructive
approach" and said Pakistan was engaged in a process of
dialogue with India.
"We have had good meetings recently between the Home and
Interior Secretaries of the two countries on counter-terrorism
and counter-narcotics. We have done everything that we can and
we are continuing to do in terms of cooperating to avert the
possibilities of terror between our two countries", he said.
Bashir even questioned whether the 2008 Mumbai terror
attacks could be described as "an intelligence failure or
security failure on the part of India."
He also sought to equate the incident to the questions of
"incompetence or complicity" being raised about Pakistani
security forces in the context of the US raid that killed bin
Laden.
Bashir mounted a strong defence of the ISI in the wake of
questions raised by US officials about its failure to detect
bin Laden even though he was living in a compound located less
than a kilometre from the Pakistan Military Academy.
He also sought to dispel the impression that the US raid
had taken bilateral relations to a fresh low.
While acknowledging that the unilateral and covert US
operation had been successful in eliminating bin Laden, Bashir
said it was "fortunate that a major tragedy that could have
happened was averted" as the Pakistan Air Force had scrambled
two F-16 jets after learning that some helicopters were
present over Abbottabad.
Referring to comments by US officials like CIA chief Leon
Panetta about the possible complicity of Pakistani security
forces or intelligence agencies in sheltering bin Laden, he
said such remarks had "continued to surface periodically" to
pressure Pakistan to "do more" in the war on terror.
"It's easy to say the ISI or elements within the
government were in cahoots with al-Qaeda. This is a false
hypothesis and a false charge. It cannot be validated on any
account and it flies in the face of what Pakistan and the ISI
has been able to accomplish," he contended.
Bashir claimed the ISI had been more successful than even
the CIA in capturing or killing al-Qaeda and Taliban elements.
The ISI had shared information on the compound where bin
Laden was found since 2009 and had also focussed on Abbottabad
since 2004, he said.
Bashir also highlighted issues of international law
and human rights that had been raised in some quarters in the
wake of the unilateral US raid to kill bin Laden.
The operation had raised "moral and legal issues" in
the domain of the UN and there is a need to bring the war on
terrorism in line with "requirements of international law," he
said.
He said Pakistan and the US should not be "distracted"
by incidents like the American raid and instead focus on
efforts aimed at ensuring peace, stability and reconciliation
in Afghanistan – an indication of Islamabad's desire to play a
key role in the endgame in the war-torn neighbouring country.