WASHINGTON: Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States Jalil Abbas Jilani Monday said misgivings about Pakistan’s role in the fight against terrorism must be stopped as the country had suffered the most in fighting the menace.
The ambassador said that American people were not being fully and accurately apprised of Pakistan’s sacrifice, a country which has lost more than 60,000 people in fighting terrorism and suffered billions of dollars in economic losses.
Referring to Congressman Ted Poe remarks in which he questioned Pakistan’s sincerity and opposed US aid to the country, Ambassador Jilani said that such statements and media reports had been proven false.
In an op-ed published last month in US News Today, the Congressman had repeated similar allegations against Pakistan.
Giving an example, Jilani said presence of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan is often cited to question its sincerity in fighting terrorism, in spite of the fact that it has been established beyond doubt that he was hiding in Pakistan without information or any help by the state.
The ambassador said that involvement of US leadership in the specific operation at that time, in which Osama was killed, clearly rejected any insinuation of Pakistan’s complicity.
“This includes the statement by Admiral William McRaven, who supervised the operation, that there was no evidence that Pakistani government knew about the whereabouts of Osama Bin Laden.”
As late as last year, the White House also rejected media accusations that are sometime published by journalists seeking public spotlight.
Despite the fact that top military and civilian leadership of the US had rejected such reports, repeating these allegations called into question the reasons for using such erroneous story again and again.
Recalling documents collected from the Osama Bin Laden compound, he said a brochure “Jehad in Pakistan” reportedly written by Bin Laden and released by office of Director National Intelligence in March this year listed the reasons why Bin Laden considered Pakistan as an enemy and outlines al Qaida’s elaborate strategy to destroy Pakistan.
“The brochure and is yet another testimony to the fact that terrorism threatens Pakistan and the United States as a common enemy,” he added.
The ambassador also rejected the impression created by false media reports and statements as if Pakistan has done nothing to fight terrorism. He reminded that Pakistan helped the United States capture key operatives involved in the tragic 9/11 episode.
“During the past two years also, Pakistan had cleared a vast swath of a territory that was previously used by many militant networks including the Haqqani Network. This operation has resulted in killing of 3,500 militants of which 900 belonged to Lashkar-e-Islam, a group that threatened ground lines of communication for facilitating cargo for US troops,” he underlined.
“Being the worst victim of terrorism and having lost thousands of innocent citizens and soldiers, our resolve to defeat this threat should never be doubted,” he asserted.
The ambassador observed that it would be only appropriate to ensure that accurate facts were presented before the American people and sensational media stories were not repeated time and again in an attempt to discredit Pakistan and its role in fighting the global menace.
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