Pakistan warns US, India against covert operations
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Pakistan on Thursday warned the US and India against any further covert operation in Pakistani territory, saying this would lead to a 'terrible catastrophe'.
Admitting that the US assault that killed Osama bin Laden did achieve 'important results', Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir told the media: "This cannot be taken as a rule."
"There should be no doubt that Pakistan has a capacity to ensure its own defence," he said.
In an apparent reference to India, Bashir said: "Any other country that would ever act (similarly) on the assumption that it has the might ... will find it has made a basic miscalculation."
He added: "We see a lot of bravado in our region... from the military, air force, which state that this can be repeated.
"We feel that sort of misadventure or miscalculation will result in a catastrophe."
The White House, however, has 'ignored' Pakistan's outrage over airspace incursion saying President Barack Obama reserved the right to take action again in Pakistan.
Despite Islamabad's complaints that the raid that killed bin Laden was unauthorised and unilateral, Obama's spokesman Jay Carney said on Wednesday that the president was prepared to target fugitives again if they are found in Pakistan.
"He made very clear during the campaign that that was his view. He was criticized for it," Carney told reporters.
"He maintained that that was his view and, by the actions he has taken as president, feels that it was the right approach and continues to feel that way."
During the 2008 presidential campaign, then-senator Obama said that he would order action against bin Laden or other senior Al-Qaeda leaders inside Pakistan if the country's leadership is 'unable or unwilling to act'.
Senator John McCain, the Republican candidate for president, accused Obama of effectively threatening a friendly nation and recommended that 'you work with the Pakistani government' if a target came into view.
Since taking office, Obama has ramped up the use of unmanned drones deep inside Pakistan, ordering more than 100 strikes last year that killed over 670 people, despite protests by Islamabad that the attacks violate its sovereignty.
US officials said they gave no notice to Pakistan before Sunday's daring raid, in which special forces killed the world's most wanted man at a mansion near the country's top military academy in Abbottabad.
CIA director Leon Panetta said the United States feared Pakistani officials may have otherwise alerted the Al-Qaeda chief.
Pakistan has been on the defensive since Sunday's attack, with civilian Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani saying that the United States and other countries shared the blame for not finding bin Laden sooner.
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