Pakistan denies presence of terrorist safe havens in FATA

Pakistan has reiterated that it does not allow its soil to be used by radical elements to launch terror attacks on other countries and denied the presence of safe havens in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), as alleged by Afghanistan.

Responding to media queries, Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria strongly rejected allegations of the presence of safe havens of terrorists in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), reports the Radio Pakistan.

Zakaria said that Pakistan has lost thousands of its citizens and suffered economic losses of over hundred billion dollars due to the menace of terrorism.

He said Pakistan's contribution to the international community's fight against terrorism and the sacrifices have been acknowledged by the world.

He added that the U.S. parliamentarians and commanders have visited FATA and publicly acknowledged the successes of Pakistan's counter-terrorism drive.

The FO spokesperson said that the often repeated claims regarding safe havens are, therefore, more of a rhetoric than anything else.

Earlier, the U.S. had endorsed Kabul's claim that the existence of safe havens in Fata allowed terrorists to carry out attacks inside Afghanistan whenever they want following twin suicide blasts near the Afghan parliament earlier this week.

Soon after the blasts, a government spokesman in Kabul said the terrorists were able to strike targets inside Afghanistan whenever they wanted because Pakistan had allowed them to maintain safe havens in FATA, a charge Islamabad rejects as baseless.