Notwithstanding the uproar Pakistan's both houses of parliament and civil society created at the ground assault on its territory by the US special forces last Wednesday, the suggestive remarks of senior Bush administration officials on the incident leave little room for doubt that the operation was conducted with the tacit understanding of Islamabad. The apparent anger of Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the use of words "regrettable, shameful and astonishing" by him, "completely unprovoked" by ISPR Director-General Maj-General Athar Abbas and "callous and wanton" by Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Tariq Majid seemed to have been intended to placate the roused public sentiments. There should be no question of taking 'any practical steps to thwart such attacks with full force', the Parliament's plea to the government, and exercising the right to "appropriately retaliate", General Majid's threat. It is exactly a week today since the American action cost the lives of 20 persons, including women and children, but no word of remorse has yet come out of Washington, nor has the Pakistan government pressed the point of "gross violation of sovereignty and territorial integrity" some legislators had stressed during the debate. Similarly, it is not hard to make the right deduction from the answers of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino and unidentified Pentagon officials given to news correspondents about whether the reports about the US troops helicopter landing at Angoor Adda village in South Waziristan, launching an attack on a house supposed to be the hideout of militants and flying back into Afghanistan had any truth in them. Ms Rice observed, "I don't have anything for you on Pakistan except to say that we are closely working with the civilian government there." Ms Perino was different only in terminology when she remarked, "I am not just going to comment on the incident in any way" also adding that the US was closing working with the new civilian set-up. Pentagon officials, who declined to be identified, did not mince their words and not only acknowledged that the US forces carried out the attack but also warned of more such incidents to come if there was credible information about the presence of "important" Al-Qaeda operatives in the tribal areas. Another significant evidence in support of the argument of Pakistan's tact understanding about the direct US military intervention in FATA is that barely a week before the top brass of the two countries had met aboard SSS Abraham Lincoln anchored in the Indian Ocean where they had expressed their resolve to pursue the anti-terror war in a coordinated manner and Chairman of US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen had highly lauded Pakistan COAS General Ashfaq Kayani for his grasp of the issue and observed that Pakistan's focus on the War On Terror was finally on target. It also does not seem logical to believe that the American ground assault on Pakistan's territory could have taken place without its knowledge, especially when it occurred soon after Admiral Mullen had profusely praised General Kayani. Besides, the US commander had been so pleased with the intensified military action by Pakistan's security forces in the tribal areas that he reversed his earlier unsatisfactory view of our fight against militancy. It might sound strange that while on the one hand the US is satisfied with the political government's intensified armed action, on the other it not only launched a ground attack but also started hurling killer missiles on suspected sanctuaries of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban almost every other day. In the process, the innocent civilian casualties are mounting. The aggravation of the situation could be attributed to at least two causes. Either, the Pakistan government has authorised the COAS to agree to the Americans' taking direct action more freely or the US has, on its own, increased the frequency of attacks taking advantage of the unsettled political situation in the country. It could be working on the assumption that since the new political set-up has developed fissures with one of its principal coalition partners and is still trying to find its feet, time is ripe to take things in its owns hands. Islamabad could, under the circumstances, be only expected to lodge a weak protest. And this is precisely what we have been witnessing. There have been verbal outrage by the parliamentarians and the citizens at the action of US troops that landed on Pakistan's soil, but the government's expression of resentment has been on the milder side. For instance, the foreign minister merely confined himself to using the words, "regrettable, shameful and astonishing." While Pakistan's attitude could be cited to prove either of the two scenarios - Pakistan's acquiescence in the American demand to physically intervene in its territory or the inability of the present government to react strongly - there is stronger evidence to suggest that the Pentagon has started operating more freely following a nod from Islamabad. E-mail: mqkay@yahoo.co.uk