The Foreign Office on Tuesday summoned the United States charge d’affaires in Pakistan to lodge a protest over the “unwarranted and unsubstantiated allegations” made against the country by US President Donald Trump.
Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua conveyed “her government’s disappointment on the recent tweets and comments by the US president” and told the US charge d’affaires “that such baseless rhetoric about Pakistan was totally unacceptable”, a statement issued by the FO read.
“Rejecting the insinuations about Osama Bin Laden, the foreign secretary reminded the US charge d’affaires that it was Pakistan’s intelligence cooperation that provided the initial evidence to trace the whereabouts of OBL,” it added.
Foreign Secretary told the US charge d’affaires that no other country had paid a heavier price than Pakistan in the fight against terrorism. The US leadership had acknowledged on multiple occasions that Pakistan’s cooperation had helped in decimating the core al Qaeda leadership and eradicating the threat of terrorism from the region, FO further said.
“The US must not forget that scores of top al Qaeda leaders were killed or captured by active Pakistani cooperation. Pakistan’s continued support to the efforts of international community in Afghanistan through ground/ air and sea lines of communication was unquestionably critical to the success of this Mission in Afghanistan,” the statement added.
“In the wake of recent US pronouncements to seek political settlement in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the US were working in close coordination with other regional stake holders in order to end the prolonged conflict. At this critical juncture, baseless allegations about a closed chapter of history could seriously undermine this vital cooperation,” FO asserted in protest.
In an interview to a local news channel on Sunday, Trump had defended his administration’s decision to block hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to Pakistan, alleging that the country was not doing enough to fight terrorism. He had also accused Islamabad of helping to hide al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad.
