White House doesn’t rule out more raids in Pakistan

WASHINGTON (PAN in case of actionable intelligence against a high-profile terrorist leader, the White House has said.

Dismissing Islamabad’s demand the United States refrain from such an action, the White House press secretary insisted they reserved the right to enter Pakistani territory in pursuit of terrorists.

“By the actions he has taken as president, he feels that it was the right approach and continues to feel that way,” Jay Carney told   press conference on Wednesday. “I certainly wouldn’t want to preclude the use of that method by anything I might say from here.” 

On Sunday, the Pakistani government called the raid an “unauthorised, unilateral action”.  But Obama has consistently said he would go ahead to target high-profile terrorists if he had actionable intelligence and the Pakistani Government was not willing to act.

They would continue to hunt down and bring to justice terrorists who were plotting to harm Americans and their allies, Carney warned, saying Al Qaeda had not abandoned its intent to attack the United States.

In an interview, former Pakistani president, Pervez Musharraf, accused the US of violating Pakistan’s sovereignty by carrying out a covert operation against Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad.

“I do know US policy that … whenever they get actionable intelligence on bin Laden, they will act anywhere in the world. But that was your policy,” he remarked.

Separately, Republican Ted Poe introduced legislation in the House of Representative which, if passed, would cut aid to Pakistan unless the State Department could certify that Islamabad was not harbouring bin Laden.

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