Islamabad: The government is expected to present its own plan for military operations in the North Waziristan tribal area along the Afghan border during a strategic dialogue with the US in Washington this week.
According to sources and reports, officials favour surgical strikes on specific targets instead of an all-out military offensive being advocated by the US against the Haqqani network in North Waziristan.
In a statement issued in Islamabad yesterday ahead of the talks, the Foreign Ministry said there was no "lack of Pakistani resolve to fight terrorism".
President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani held a meeting at the presidential office yesterday in connection with the dialogue.
A high-level delegation being sent to Washington for the two-day dialogue starting on Thursday will be headed by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmoud Quraishi. It will include the army chief, the ISI chief, director general of military operations and several ministers and federal secretaries.
The US has been pressing its frontline ally in the so-called war on terror to launch an operation in North Waziristan on the pattern of full-scale offensives undertaken in Swat and later in South Waziristan with noticeable success against the Taliban.
Statement of intent
The Foreign Ministry statement said any question relating to when, how and what is to be done in North Waziristan "is based on judgment, keeping in mind our capacities, priorities and overall national interest".
"This in no way should be interpreted as a lack of Pakistani resolve to fight terrorism," it said.
North Waziristan, home to 350,000 people, is considered by the US an Al Qaida safe haven where terror plots for strikes in the western world are conceived. US drones have been carrying out missile strikes in North Waziristan almost daily since early September.
