Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: In response to a media question on the US deputy spokesperson’s critical remarks saying ‘Pakistan is being selective in targeting terrorists and does not go after those threatening its neighbours’, Foreign Office Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said that Pakistan has taken concrete counter-terrorism measures in a phase-wise manner keeping in view Pakistan’s national security concerns.

“We have taken a serious note of the remarks made by the US spokesperson, which are self-contradictory and oblivious of the fact that Pakistan has taken concrete measures to counter terrorism in a phase-wise manner keeping in view Pakistan’s national security concerns,” the spokesperson said.

He said that in Senator John McCain’s recent visit to Pakistan – along with some other senators and congressmen – they unanimously acknowledged the remarkable achievements made by Pakistan in its counter-terrorism drive. They visited Miramshah and observed the situation on ground for themselves.

Senator McCain, on his return also wrote an article on his experience in Pakistan. “Terrorism is more of a concern to Pakistan than its neighbour,” the spokesperson said.

He said that the arrest of the ‘neighbour’s’ active service officer, who publicly confessed his state’s involvement in perpetrating and financing terrorist and subversive activities in Pakistan, surprisingly did not prompt any statement by the US.

“I also wish to remind the US deputy spokesperson of the statement by Chuck Hagel in February 2013 that Pakistan’s neighbour uses the soil of another neighbour to finance instability in Pakistan,” Nafees Zakaria said.

The factors behind spread of terrorism in Pakistan and the colossal losses inflicted on Pakistan in terms of loss of over 60,000 innocent lives and billions of dollars to the economy is obvious now, he said.

He further said that these ground realities together with the inhuman treatment meted out by ‘the neighbour’s forces’ to the defenceless and innocent Kashmiri people struggling for their right to self-determination, the remarks of the US spokesperson are misplaced and are not sensitive to Pakistan’s security concerns.