Islamabad, May 5: Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali today insisted that his government would take its own decisions regarding militants in the semi-autonomous tribal region bordering Afghanistan, following US accusations that it was not cracking down on them hard enough.

“We are a sovereign country and take our own decisions, we have not released any Taliban or al Qaida suspects,” Jamali said.

This followed a statement by US General David Barno on the recent events in South Waziristan, where scores of Pakistani tribal militants, several with a suspected Taliban past, were pardoned after weeks of confrontation.

Barno, the military commander leading some 13,500 US forces in Afghanistan, had on Monday asked Pakistan to kill or capture foreign militants holed up in the tribal rim instead of granting them amnesty.

He also questioned the Pakistani strategy (of pardoning wanted militants) by suggesting it could undermine the war against terrorism.

But Masood Khan, the Pakistani foreign ministry spokesperson today hit back at Gen. Barno. “We don’t kill people for the sake of sport, which is very dangerous…. We are making our own operational decisions under a well thought out strategy,” Khan said.

“The ultimate objective is to flush out terrorists...our strategy is good and contributes to the war on terror, second to none,” emphasised the spokesperson.

Pakistani authorities had on April 24 agreed not to prosecute five tribal militants wanted for allegedly sheltering al Qaida and Taliban fighters in the South Waziristan. In exchange, the tribesmen promised not to indulge in terrorist activities or act against the country’s interests.

More than 100 soldiers, as well as several local and foreign militants, were killed in an encounter that began on March 16 in the Kaloosha village west of Wana and continued for many days.

During the operation, the army arrested over 170 local and foreign suspects, saying several were of Chechen, Uzbek or Arab origin. But none of the alleged foreigners were brought before the public except for an unidentified body.

Masood Khan added that Pakistan had protested to the US against this week’s intrusion by its troops into Pakistani territory.