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Pakistan army chief asks NATO commander to stop miscreant attacks

27 June 2012 20:29 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Pakistani Army Chief, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Wednesday asked the visiting NATO commander in Afghanistan, General John Allen, to stop "miscreants attacks on Pakistani border posts", APA reports quoting Xinhua.

General Allen met General Kayani at the Pakistani army headquarters in Rawalpindi at a time when relationship with Pakistan and the United States are at lowest ebb.

Talks between the U.S. and Pakistan over the reopening of supply line for NATO forces in Afghanistan have failed despite several rounds of talks. The supply line was closed in November after a NATO airstrike killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

"The Army Chief drew attention of the NATO forces commander towards increased incursions by miscreants into Pakistani territory and asked for action," a military source told Xinhua. The source did not give any further details.

The army and the U.S. embassy have not issued any official statement so far.

The army in an earlier statement ahead of General Allen’s visit said that the interaction will focus on reviewing the progress made in the implementation of recently evolved border coordination measures/standing operating procedures.

Prior to his visit to Pakistan, the NATO commander had blamed the Haqqani Network for an attack on a hotel near Kabul last week, which killed nearly 20 people, mostly civilians.

American and Afghan officials claimed that the Haqqani Network is based in Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal region and regularly sends its fighters across the border for attacks on foreign and Afghan forces.

Pakistan also said that the militants carry out attacks on its border check posts from Afghan territory and in a recent attack on Sunday the militants killed 11 Pakistani soldiers in Dir district.

The Foreign Ministry and the military had launched formal protest with Afghan officials over the attack and called for urgent action to stop such attacks in future.

Pakistan said that Pakistani Taliban insurgents have crossed into Afghanistan as the result of military operations and are now operating from the border regions and launch attacks into Pakistani territory.

Afghan officials denied Pakistan’s claim and want solid proofs about the presence of Pakistani militants on Afghan soil.