Islamabad:
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has dismissed US President Barack Obama's unusual censure of the Pakistan government, saying it was Obama's "personal opinion".
Reacting to the US President's concerns about the Pakistan government being "very fragile", Gilani said it was the President's "personal opinion".
Gilani told reporters in his hometown of Multan that his government is strong. All institutions, including parliament, judiciary and media, are functioning effectively within the ambit of the Constitution, he said.
US President Obama, in a prime-time news conference marking the 100-day of his presidency on Thursday, had expressed concern that the civilian government in Pakistan was "very fragile".
"I'm more concerned that the civilian government there right now is very fragile and don't seem to have the capacity to deliver basic services -- schools, health care, rule of law, a judicial system that works for the majority of the people," the US leader had said.
US President Obama, during his interaction with mediapersons, had also said that Pakistan's civil and military leadership had only recently recognised that their "obsession with India as the mortal threat to Pakistan has been misguided".
Gilani, referring to the ongoing operations against the Taliban, said help is sought from the army on the recommendation of provincial administrations wherever the writ of the government is challenged. The army works under the civilian government, which can requisition its assistance, he said.
Some 140 militants have been killed since Pakistani troops launched an operation against the Taliban in Dir and Buner districts near the federal capital.
The Pakistani premier, who was on his way from Multan to Karachi to review the situation in the southern port city after it was hit by ethnic clashes that claimed over 30 lives, said the possibility of the involvement of a "foreign hand" in the violence could not be ruled out.