Lahore: Information minister Firdous Ashiq Awan yesterday cast doubt on statements made by defence minister Ahmad Mukhtar that the United States had been asked to vacate an air base used to launch drone strikes against suspected militants in the country.
Mukhtar told a group of journalists on Wednesday that the government had asked Washington to leave Shamsi Air Base in the remote southwest of the country, which had been provided to the United States after it launched a counter-terrorism operation in Afghanistan in 2001.
Mukhtar told Reuters on Thursday that Islamabad had been pressuring the US to leave the base even before the May 2 commando raid in which US Navy SEAL commandos killed Osama Bin Laden. After the raid, Mukhtar said, "We told them again."
Yesterday, the government tried to put the confusing story to rest.
"It's just a statement for the media," information minister Firdous Ashiq Awan told a media gathering in the eastern city of Lahore, dismissing Mukhtar's comments. "I am also a member of the defence committee and it has not been discussed there."
Latest twist
Reacting to Mukhtar's earlier statement, US officials in Washington said there was no plan to evacuate the base. "That base is neither vacated nor being vacated," said an official familiar with the matter, who asked for anonymity to discuss sensitive material. The information was confirmed by a second US official.
The US declaration that drone operations in Pakistan will continue unabated is the latest twist in a fraught relationship between security authorities in Washington and Islamabad, which has been under increasing strain for months.
Pakistani officials have frequently suggested Shamsi was on the verge of being shuttered, but most analysts consider those comments to be aimed at quieting domestic opposition to US military operations using Pakistani soil.
