Hina Rabbani Khar

Islamabad, Sept. 25 (Agencies): America’s stand-off with Pakistan over the ISI’s alleged links with the Haqqani network deepened after Islamabad summoned foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar back from the UN today.

Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani asked Khar, who was representing Pakistan at the General Assembly in New York, to return to the country immediately. She was expected to address the UN on Monday and fly to Islamabad the next day.

The top US military officer, Adm. Mike Mullen, last week accused Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of supporting Haqqani insurgents in executing a 22-hour assault on the US embassy in Afghanistan on September 13 as well as a truck bomb that wounded 77 US soldiers days earlier.

Today, Pakistan army chief Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani convened a meeting of senior commanders. Kayani, considered the most powerful man in the country, dismissed the US allegations, saying they were baseless and part of a public “blame game” detrimental to peace in Afghanistan.

Later in the day, Gilani’s office issued a statement saying Khar was summoned back to attend a meeting of all major political parties on “threats emanating from outside the country”. Khar has been “summoned to reach Pakistan soon to be present in the briefing, which will be given by all the concerned authorities”, it said.

The proposed meeting “will send a strong message that the nation stands united when the defence and security of the country is at stake”, the statement said. It added that “political differences in domestic politics do not come in the way of national and foreign policy issues, which are above party politics”.

Pakistan’s leaders have shown no indication that they plan to act on renewed American demands to attack the Haqqani network’s main base in Pakistan, even at the risk of further conflict with Washington, which has given the country billions in aid.

US officials have implied that American forces could carry out unilateral raids inside Pakistan against the Haqqani network, which could have explosive implications in a country where anti-US sentiment is widespread.

Pakistanis were outraged by the covert US commando raid that killed al Qaida chief Osama bin Laden in May.

Pakistani interior minister Rehman Malik warned the US today against sending troops into Pakistan. “Any aggression will not be tolerated,” he said. “The nation is standing united behind the armed forces, which is the front line of Pakistan’s defence.”