Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said on Wednesday that Pakistan faced no threat and its cooperation with the United States in defence and intelligence-sharing would continue.
“Pakistan is a responsible country and it faces no threats… in fact, we have intelligence-sharing and defence cooperation with the United States … President Obama gave a clear point of view and I think we should accept it,” Gilani said in response to questions about whether the worst had yet to come for Pakistan after Osama bin Laden was killed close to the country’s top military training academy.
After a meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy here, Gilani said Pakistan was in the middle of a war. “We have the resolve and ability to fight [terrorism] in our own interest but we don’t have the capacity. I have asked the (French) president to help us build capacity and he assured his country’s support,” he added. To a question about the fact that the United States had violated Pakistani airspace to carry out the operation, the prime minister repeated his position and said: “We should believe and accept whatever President Obama has said.”
The prime minister said he discussed bilateral issues and areas of cooperation, including civil nuclear technology, with the French president. “It is Pakistan’s prerogative and France has no objection to it for resolving the energy crisis there,” said Sarkozy. Hinting at a possible intelligence failure to track bin Laden’s movement inside Pakistan, a clearly clueless Gilani said if this was an intelligence failure, investigation “must have been ordered” to find out how the world’s most wanted man managed to hide so close to Pakistan Military Academy, Kakul.
“Yes, there can be an intelligence failure,” the prime minister said in his first talk with the media here at the Mouvement des Entreprises de France (MEDEF) forum after bin Laden’s death. However, the prime minister rejected the impression that it was a failure of Pakistan’s intelligence agencies and said: “There is an intelligence failure of the whole world, not just Pakistan alone… and now we should move forward.”
But he hoped that after this incident, there would be better coordination among all intelligence agencies. Asked whether the US had sought Pakistan’s permission before conducting the operation deep inside Pakistani territory, Gilani said: “When we meet them, we would ask them.” He also questioned the intelligence capabilities of the world’s top powers and said they could not find Osama “despite having the best intelligence agencies”.
When asked repeatedly why Pakistan did not nab bin Laden, the prime minister said his country was constantly sharing intelligence with the US. “There have been a lot of movements after 9/11 but no one knew as to where he was. It’s not (just) Pakistan, even the United States did not know about his whereabouts,” said Gilani. To questions seeking an explanation of the close proximity of bin Laden’s hideout to the military academy, the prime minister’s response did not make much sense.
“He was a foreigner and not a Pakistani… these foreigners have been fighting against Pakistan and were on the run after 9/11,” said an obviously stumped Gilani. “Instead of indulging in a blame game, the world should respect what Pakistan has done in the war against terror,” Gilani added later.
“No single nation can solve this problem… we have lost 30,000 civilians and over 5,000 soldiers… we are having intelligence-sharing with all countries… when there is a victory, they say they have won but when they lose, they say it’s Pakistan’s failure… everyone has to accept the failure and share the success. We should share the victory and we should also share the losses in the war against terror,” the prime minister said.
Gilani urged the international community to send positive messages to Pakistan because Pakistan was “a part of the solution and not a part of the problem”. He said Pakistan was not interested in the internal affairs of Afghanistan. “Peace and stability in Afghanistan is in our own interest and we support the Afghan-led initiative for peace and security,” he said. Earlier, speaking at the MEDEF forum, the prime minister told French investors not to be misdirected by exaggerated reports and negative perception being created about Pakistan and invest in the country that offered incentives in several sectors.
MEDEF is a leading network of business confederation consisting of over 700,000 member firms. French Senate President Gerard Larcher also appreciated the spirit of Pakistani people to fight terrorism and urged the world to support the country through socio-economic development.
