Six days before Army chief Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani announced that the coalition forces in Afghanistan would not be allowed to operate inside Pakistan, Islamabad had formally informed the US administration that it would not tolerate any attack by the US/Nato forces on its territory, said a news report. After the first-ever US-led ground operation inside Pakistan on Sept 3, Prime Minister Gilani's National Security Adviser Maj. Gen. (retd) Mehmud Durrani on Sept 5 formally wrote to his US counterpart Steve Hadley, warning that Pakistan would not allow any foreign forces to operate on its territory, the report published in the leading English language daily The News said. This candid warning was issued to the Bush administration a day before Asif Ali Zardari was elected as the president of Pakistan. Foreign Office sources, while confirming this, indicated the government of Pakistan may decide to make this letter public. They said Kayani's Sept. 10 statement was a follow-up of the government's decision not to allow any foreign incursion. In his letter, the sources said, Durrani made it clear to the US administration that the rules of engagements with the coalition forces were well defined and there was no provision that allowed the US/Nato forces in Afghanistan to operate inside Pakistan. On Sept 10, General Kayani, apparently in a quick rejoinder to Admiral Mike Mullen's statement that the US military in Afghanistan would revise its strategy to include militants' safe havens in Pakistan, categorically said: “The sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country will be defended at all costs.” Kayani also made it clear that there was no agreement or understanding with the coalition forces whereby they were allowed to conduct operations on our side of the border. The Foreign Office sources insist that General Kayani's latest statements are part of the government's strategy. Meanwhile, Pakistani troops bombed Taleban positions for the second day running Friday in a tribal town near the Afghan border, killing up to 23 militants in the latest action, officials said. __
