Gilani rules out compromise on sovereignty

Islamabad: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Friday said no decision harmful to Pakistan's sovereignty would be taken when he discusses counter-terrorism in tribal areas during his upcoming meeting with US President George W. Bush.

"There will be no compromise on the sovereignty, dignity and self-respect of the country," he said before his departure for an official visit to US.

Gilani was asked what stance he would take regarding frequent suggestions of incursions into Pakistani tribal territory by US-led forces from Afghanistan in hot pursuit of Taliban insurgents.

The prime minister will be in London today and leave for the US the next day. He also meets political ally and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the British capital.

He said his government believed in dialogue with tribes to muster support in the fight against terrorism.

Gilani said 99 per cent of the tribal people were sincere and patriotic while a handful of miscreants financed by external elements were involved in terrorism and harming peace.

Recalling his meeting with President Bush on the sidelines of a World Economic Forum conference at Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt recently, Gilani said he had reiterated then that Pakistan would pursue dialogue as military action was not the solution to the problem.

He declared that nobody would be allowed to destabilise the country and challenge the authority of the state.

The prime minister also said he would expand his cabinet after return from the United States.

On Wednesday a meeting of heads of four component parties of the ruling coalition led by the Pakistan People's Party agreed that the "main thrust" of the government's policy would political engagement with the people.

Government officials said the US administration was likely to underline its support for Pakistan's democratic setup during Gilani's visit.

Important signal

"Following years of unqualified support for President Musharraf, the support for the new government will send an important signal to the people of Pakistan," the official media quoted former State Department advisor Lisa Curtis as saying.

However, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday Pakistan needs to do more to prevent Taliban militants from launching attacks into Afghanistan from its territory,

Speaking in Australia, Rice suggested to reporters that a surge in Taliban-related violence in Afghanistan had its source in the restive semiautonomous tribal areas along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan.

"We understand that it's difficult, we understand that the northwest frontier area is difficult, but militants cannot be allowed to organise there and to plan there and to engage across the border," Rice said.

"So yes, more needs to be done."

Rice received strong support from Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith, who described the border region as "the current international hotbed of terrorism." He said the threat posed by terrorists who may be hiding in the region was too great to leave Afghanistan and Pakistan to deal with it alone.

"We are very concerned about the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area," Smith said. "We don't believe that can be regarded simply as a bilateral matter between Pakistan and Afghanistan. It is an issue which has regional and international community consequences."

Australia has about 1,000 troops in Afghanistan, the largest deployment of any country outside the Nato alliance.

While Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's new government withdrew its combat forces from Iraq last month, it says it has no plans to draw down its troops in Afghanistan. Smith said Australia had no plans to increase its troop numbers there, either.

Rice also reiterated the Bush administration's desire to close the prison at the US naval base at Guantanamo, Cuba, where about 270 terrorism suspects still are being held - another flash point for international critics of the US war on terror. "Guantanamo is a detention centre that we would very much like to close," Rice said.

"The problem of course is that there are dangerous people there who cannot be returned and put among innocent populations."

- With inputs from AP