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Obama's Abbottabad comments smack of arrogance: Musharraf

Last updated on: May 25, 2011 20:57 IST

Pakistan's former president Pervez Musharraf has termed United States President Barack Obama's recent statement that he would not hesitate in ordering an Abbottabad-like operation inside Pakistan again as 'arrogant' and 'irresponsible'.

Musharraf said the US operation that killed Osama bin laden in Abbottabad was tantamount to an "act of war" and that no country has the right to violate the sovereignty of another.

"No country has a right to intrude into any other country. Actually, technically, legally, you see it, it's an act of war," he told CNN in an interview.

Obama recently said on a British television show that he would again order an Abbottabad-like operation if another al Qaeda leader was found hiding in Pakistan.

Musharraf said the statement smacks of "arrogance". "So I think it is an irresponsible statement, an I think such arrogance should not be shown, publicly, to the world," Musharraf said.

"Theoretically, technically, yes indeed, it's act of war," he said. The US operation inside Pakistan on May 2 has created a lot of bad blood between the two long-time allies with Pakistan condemning the unilateral US action.

"How to deal with it is the question, and I leave it to the government there to how they want to deal with it," the former Pakistan president said.
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