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| India-Pakistan |
| Pakistan defends negotiation with tribal leaders |
| 2007-10-04 |
| Zamir Akram, foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, defended on Tuesday Pakistan’s efforts to engage tribal leaders living on the rugged Pakistani-Afghan border as crucial to fighting terrorists operating in that lawless region. US officials have criticised a failed peace deal between Pakistan and pro-Taliban tribes for allowing Al Qaeda fighters to regroup and have urged the country to do more to fight terrorists. Akram said Pakistan must win over the frontier tribes. “If you lose support of the tribes, there’s no way you can control those territories,” Akram told an audience at the Middle East Institute. Relying on a military approach, he said, would lead to airstrikes and civilian deaths, which would make the people living in the region enemies of the Pakistani government and the US. Akram also warned against increased pressure on Pakistan to step up fighting along the border. “When we hear people in Washington or London say that Pakistan needs to do more, the question is: ‘Do you understand what you’re asking us to do? Would you in the US or in Britain or wherever else be prepared to do the same thing against your own people? Would you go into Texas or wherever on the border areas and actually kill Americans?’” Akram in his comments criticised another cause of tension: a new US law that requires the US president to confirm that Pakistan is making progress toward combating terrorists inside its territory before the US will provide aid. Such a law, he said, angers Pakistanis and reminds them of previous sanctions by the US against Pakistan. Akram urged the US, rather than focusing on military action in Pakistan, to boost support for social programmes meant to end unemployment and ease anger in poor areas where terrorists try to recruit young people. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Has Zamir Akram ever visited Waco, Texas? Has he ever visited Manassas, Sharpsburg, Fredricksburg, Chancellorsville, Spotsylvania, the Wilderness, or Gettysburg? |
| Posted by: Eric Jablow 2007-10-04 08:54 |