Islamabad, September 22 (NDTV.COM) Pakistan on Thursday vowed to not let foreign forces enter its territory, a day after US President George W Bush said he would order American military action inside the Islamic nation if Osama bin Laden was found to be hiding there.

"Absolutely," Bush said on CNN after being asked if he would order military action inside Pakistan, despite it being a sovereign nation, if intelligence pointed to top terrorists being there. "We would take the action necessary to bring them to justice."

Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam declined to respond directly to Bush's remarks, but reiterated President Pervez Musharraf's recent rejection of any foreign military forces stepping foot in this Asian nation.

"Any terrorist action to be taken inside Pakistani territory would be taken by Pakistan," Aslam said.

"He (Musharraf) has said that he would not allow any foreign troops to come inside our territory."

Bin Laden's whereabouts are unknown, but he is believed to be hiding along the porous Pakistani-Afghan frontier.

Sovereign nation

Bush is scheduled to meet Musharraf on Friday at the White House and again next week.

In a news conference last week, Bush said he could not send thousands of troops into Pakistan to search for bin Laden without an invitation from Musharraf's government. "Pakistan's a sovereign nation," Bush said then.

Bush disputed any suggestion that Pakistan has not done enough to hunt down terrorist leaders.

"I view President Musharraf as somebody who would like to bring al-Qaida to justice," Bush said.

"There's no question there is a kind of a hostile territory in the remote regions of Pakistan that makes it easier for somebody to hide," he added.

Pakistan became a key US anti-terror ally following the 9/11 attacks, ending its support for the Taliban regime that harbored bin Laden inside Afghanistan and handing over more than 700 al-Qaida militants to American authorities.