Islamabad: Pakistan today reacted angrily to reports that US President George W Bush is considering covert military opertions in the country's volatile tribal areas borderig Afghanistan.

"It is not up to the US administration, it is Pakistan's government who is responsible for this country," chief military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad told AFP.

"There are no overt or covert US operations inside Pakistan. Such reports are baseless and we reject them".

The New York Times reported on its website late yesterday that under a proposal being discussed in Washington, CIA operatives based in Afghanistan woud be able to call on direct military support for counter-terrorism operations in neighbouring Pakistan.

Citing unnamed senior administration officials, the newspaper said, "the proposal called for giving Central Intelligence Agency agents broader powers to strike targets in Pakistan".

The United States now has about 50 soldiers in Pakistan, the report said.

The new plan was reportedly discussed by vice-president Dick Cheney, secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and national security aides in the wake of the December 27 assassination of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf had not been consulted, the New York Times reported.

Source : PTI