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Pakistan sacks security adviser over comments
Source: Agencies |
January 9, 2009, Friday
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PAKISTAN has fired its national security adviser amid tensions following the Mumbai attacks.
Mahmood Ali Durrani, a former ambassador to the United States, was fired late Wednesday because "he gave media interviews on national security issues without consulting the prime minister," said Imran Gardaizi, spokesman for Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.
The decision came hours after Indian media quoted Durrani as saying the surviving Mumbai attacker was Pakistani. Other top Pakistani officials separately confirmed Mohammed Ajmal Kasab's nationality to media outlets the same day.
The government's acknowledgment that Kasab is Pakistani - something India has long alleged - followed weeks of it saying there was no proof and he is not in its national identification databases.
Durrani, a former general, has advocated improving India-Pakistan ties, writing papers on the subject and bringing retired and serving Indian military personnel to Pakistan to encourage better military relations.
He said he had "conducted myself to the best of my ability" and he was committed to peace between India and Pakistan.
"I wish this government a lot of luck," he told The Associated Press yesterday. "They have a lot of problems to deal with, and I wish them the very best because my loyalties are to my country."
His national security appointment was controversial from the start because some considered him too pro-American - so the government may have been looking for an excuse to get rid of him, said political analyst Talat Masood.
Masood said it "reflects on the confusion that prevails in Pakistan in the functioning of the government and the indecisiveness over how to deal with India."
Durrani became national security adviser to the nine-month-old civilian government having served as ambassador to the United States when former army chief Pervez Musharraf held the presidency.
Mahmood Ali Durrani, a former ambassador to the United States, was fired late Wednesday because "he gave media interviews on national security issues without consulting the prime minister," said Imran Gardaizi, spokesman for Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.
The decision came hours after Indian media quoted Durrani as saying the surviving Mumbai attacker was Pakistani. Other top Pakistani officials separately confirmed Mohammed Ajmal Kasab's nationality to media outlets the same day.
The government's acknowledgment that Kasab is Pakistani - something India has long alleged - followed weeks of it saying there was no proof and he is not in its national identification databases.
Durrani, a former general, has advocated improving India-Pakistan ties, writing papers on the subject and bringing retired and serving Indian military personnel to Pakistan to encourage better military relations.
He said he had "conducted myself to the best of my ability" and he was committed to peace between India and Pakistan.
"I wish this government a lot of luck," he told The Associated Press yesterday. "They have a lot of problems to deal with, and I wish them the very best because my loyalties are to my country."
His national security appointment was controversial from the start because some considered him too pro-American - so the government may have been looking for an excuse to get rid of him, said political analyst Talat Masood.
Masood said it "reflects on the confusion that prevails in Pakistan in the functioning of the government and the indecisiveness over how to deal with India."
Durrani became national security adviser to the nine-month-old civilian government having served as ambassador to the United States when former army chief Pervez Musharraf held the presidency.
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