Pak bound to provide security to NATO supplies enroute to Afghanistan: US Embassy

ISLAMABAD - Rejecting the Islamabad Police’s claim that they were not responsible for providing security to the trucks and trailers carrying supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan within the jurisdiction of the capital city and its adjoining areas, the US Embassy has insisted that the Pakistani government is bound by a bilateral agreement to ensure safe passage of the supplies to Afghanistan through its soil.

“How could the Islamabad Police chief exonerate himself from the NATO containers’ security is beyond my understanding. His government has an agreement with our government under which it is binding on them to provide security cover to the supplies passing through the Pakistani territory,” The News quoted Richard Snelsir, the spokesman for the US Embassy in Islamabad, as saying.

The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Islamabad, Kaleem Imam, had earlier said that in accordance with the laid down standard operating procedure (SOP), security to the NATO containers was not the Islamabad Police’s job.

“NATO itself should take measures to protect its convoys on the Pakistani soil,” he added.

When asked, Snelsir was quick to reject Imam’s point of view, saying Washington and Islamabad had an understanding, which bound the latter to provide security to the Nato supplies on its soil en route to Afghanistan.

He also revealed that under an agreement signed with the US Embassy, some Karachi-based shipping and transportation companies had been insuring all those aboard the vehicles carrying NATO supplies against such deadly attacks. He, however, declined to disclose names of the said companies. (ANI)