Pakistan gives warning against further raids

Foreign minister says any country seeking future raids such as the one on bin Laden will face "disastrous consequences".

Pakistan has warned the US and other countries against future raids on suspected fighters, saying they will face consequences from the military. Salman Bashir, Pakistan's foreign minister, said "there shall no be any doubt that any repetition of such an act will have disastrous consequences", referring to the raid on Monday that killed Osama bin Laden, the head of al-Qaeda. "We feel that that sort of misadventure or miscalculation would result in a terrible catastrophe," he said on Thursday in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital. "There should be no doubt Pakistan has adequate capacity to ensure its own defence." The US commando raid was conducted without the knowledge of the government, it has said, leading to anger over the violation of the country's sovereignty. The foreign ministry said the raid was an "unauthorised unilateral action". However, the CIA said it kept Pakistan out of the loop because it feared bin Laden would be tipped off, highlighting the depth of mistrust between the two supposed allies. Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said it would stand by Pakistan despite the strain put on the relationship bythe discovery of bin Laden so close to the Pakistani capital. "It is not always an easy relationship, you know that," she said in Rome, the Italian capital, on Thursday. "But, on the other hand, it is a productive one for both our countries and we are going to continue to cooperate between our governments, our militaries, our law-enforcement agencies, but most importantly between the American and Pakistani people." She also said the US and its allies must continue working with Pakistan to fight al-Qaeda in that country and Afghanistan. US special forces launched the Monday morning raid without the knowledge of Pakistan officials, with helicopter-borne soldiers attacking a compound in Abbottabad, north of Islamabad. Four other people were also killed in the raid. Pakistan has been under international pressure to explain why the al-Qaeda chief was able to hide in a compound in a hill town near its capital.

Source: Agencies