Lashing Out

Pakistan Warns Against Violations of Sovereignty

Remarks seem aimed at India.

The U.S. might be able to get away with flying into Pakistan’s airspace and killing people, but Pakistan would like India to know it cannot follow in America's footsteps. "Any other country that would ever act on the assumption that it has the might and mimic unilateralism of any sorts will find ... that it has made a basic miscalculation,” Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir said, in an apparent reference to Pakistan’s rival. "We feel that that sort of misadventure or miscalculation would result in a terrible catastrophe.” Bashir’s comments also seemed intended to reassure the public that the country was capable of defending itself. One of Pakistan’s main Islamic parties is calling for protests Friday against what it calls a breach of sovereignty. Bashir also defended Pakistan’s intelligence service against accusations that it had links to Osama bin Laden, saying it is a “false charge” and that bin Laden was able to live for so long undetected because of “a global intelligence failure.” Western, Indian, and Afghan officials have long suspected the ISI of working with militants to wage a proxy war against India and maintain influence in Afghanistan once U.S. troops leave.