Pak to take action on Qaeda if proof is given

Islamabad, Aug 7: Pakistan Ambassador to United States Mahmood Ali Durrani has said his country will not even hesitate for a moment if actionable and timely intelligence was provided about the presence of Al Qaeda elements on its soil.

''We have 85,000 troops in the tribal areas. We will not hesitate for a moment if we have actionable, timely intelligence, we will go after them,'' the ambassador told CNN.

Durrani said Pakistan was committed to going after miscreants, but at the same time We want to avoid collateral damages because we have to live with these people.

He said it was on record that Pakistan had been taking action against miscreants on actionable intelligence, adding that even since signing an agreement with tribal elders, the country had been taking action when it was required to do so.

Asked if Al Qaeda elements were re-grouping in the tribal areas, Durrani said, I disagree with this. He said one of the insurgents security forces held a couple of days ago grew up in Afghanistan. He had been operating in Helmand for five months, but was not captured in Afghanistan, Durrani added.

We got him in Pakistan. We were going to hit bad guys, there is no doubt, we were doing it and we will continue doing it, he said.

He said Pakistan, US and Afghanistan should avoid blaming each other and sit together to seek ways to control and defeat extremism and terrorism.

About the statement of US Presidential candidate Obama that he would favour US operations in Pakistan if he became President, Durrani said, I don't think that was a good step. This would not help US objective. We need to fight extremism and terrorism jointly.

UNI