ISLAMABAD: FBI Director Robert Mueller is visiting Pakistan as tensions between the two countries spike over US demands that Islamabad crack down on Afghan militants it says get shelter on Pakistani soil.

“The Haqqanis are the product of the Soviet Union and Afghan war, and we were partners and they are sons of the soil,” Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters after a meeting with Mueller in Islamabad on Wednesday.

“But I assured him (Mueller) they are not on the Pakistani side, but if there is any intelligence which is provided by the US, we will definitely take action.”

US officials have declined to discuss the visit.