The Hindu : U.S. to stop 'hot pursuit'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jan 07, 2003

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U.S. to stop 'hot pursuit'

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD Jan. 6. The dispute between Pakistan and the United States, triggered by the firing by American troops inside Pakistani territory last week, has ended with the latter agreeing that its forces cannot enter Pakistani territory without permission. The agreement was arrived at a meeting between representatives of the Pakistan and U.S. forces patrolling the border as part of the hunt for Al-Qaeda and Taliban operatives fleeing Afghanistan.

The Pakistan Defence Minister, Rao Sikandar Iqbal, said here that the Government had dispatched defence officials to the border with Afghanistan and told the U.S. military not to enter its territory without permission. At the same time, Pakistani and U.S. troops would continue to cooperate in the hunt for Al-Qaeda and Taliban operatives. Till date Pakistan is believed to have handed over 423 suspected Al-Qaeda and Taliban men to the American forces.

"The U.S. troops have been clearly told that next time there will be no violation from their sides, and that they will not cross our border from Afghanistan," Mr. Iqbal said.

Two days ago, the Pakistan Foreign Minister, Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri, had characterised the clash between Pakistan and U.S. forces as a "misunderstanding" and asserted that Pakistan forces alone would operate against terrorists inside the country.

The war of words in the last few days is a sequence to an incident on December 29 when a Pakistani border guard shot and wounded an American soldier in the Paktika province, just a few hundred metres from Pakistan's border. The shooting prompted U.S. forces to call in an airstrike on a building where the guard was believed hiding.

The U.S. military said the building it hit was inside Afghanistan. Islamabad, however, maintained that one bomb landed on its side. An inquiry has been ordered. "The incident is still being investigated as to what fell where," the Foreign Ministry spokesman, Aziz Ahmed Khan, said at the regular press briefing.

Mr. Khan reiterated that as for operations within Pakistan "there is no ambiguity left. Pakistani forces alone are conducting all activities in Pakistani territory. This is the only incident of its kind. To make this fuss about it is really uncalled for."

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