No Terror Safe Havens In Pakistan, Says Islamabad’s Envoy To The US; Audience Bursts Into Laughter

Ambassador of Pakistan to the United States, Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, was laughed at by a Washington audience for saying that there are no safe sanctuaries for terrorists in Pakistan and that the Taliban leader, who reportedly died in a hospital in Karachi, never left Afghanistan, International Business Times has reported.

"What sanctuaries you are talking about? If you want to live in the past, you cannot solve the present. Haqqani and the Taliban are not our friends. They are not our proxies. What Quetta Shura you are talking about? What Peshawar Shura?" Chaudhry said during a panel discussion on 'regional perspectives on the US strategy in Afghanistan', at the Washington-based Atlantic Council.

"What is so funny about this," a visibly irritated Chaudhry asked after he was laughed at for suggesting that there are no terror sanctuaries in his home country.

However, Chaudhry appeared to be isolated as two other panelists - former Indian minister and Congress leader Manish Tewari and top American expert Ashley Tellis - joined Zalmay Khalilzad, who served as US ambassador to Afghanistan, to say that terrorist safe havens continue to exist in Pakistan.