Twirp: Terrorist Wahabi Islamic Rep Pakistan 4

[Naresh]

<b>Time to cooperate —Dr Hasan-Askari Rizvi</b>

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->This divided state of mind characterised the orientation of the federal government under General Musharraf. Some federal ministers and others in the official circles made no secret of their sympathy for Islamic militancy. That was the main reason the Red Mosque issue was allowed to fester. The burqa-clad armed women were allowed to continue with their take-over of a children’s library and they paraded the streets of Islamabad at will. <b>The movement’s leader could give exclusive interviews to TV news channels from the roadside. <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Had the burqa-clad women not taken Chinese nationals hostage, would their activities have continued indefinitely?</span>

By the time the government took action against the Red Mosque in July 2007, it was too late and the government incurred high human and political cost.</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The change in the disposition of the civilian government and the army high command came through their own review of the growing threat of militancy in the first quarter of 2009. Mutual consultation brought the civilian government and the military to the firm conclusion that militant groups, based in the tribal areas and the mainland, could not be allowed to threaten Pakistani state and society.

What helped them come to this conclusion were the stories of brutalities of the Taliban and their attempts to expand their domain of authority; their targeting of security personnel and state institutions and symbols; the Swat ‘Nizam-e Adl’ episode; <b>the Mumbai terrorist attack; several terrorist attacks in Lahore, especially the attack on Sri Lankan cricket team; <span style='color:red'>Chinese complaints of the presence of their Muslim dissidents in Pakistani tribal areas;</span> and American-British prodding.</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->India needs to recognise that Pakistan is now working towards the elimination of terrorism with full determination. India needs to move away from a single-track approach of insisting on elimination of India-related terrorist groups as a pre-condition for normal interaction. <b>India-related terrorism should be viewed as part of Pakistan’s overall problem of extremism and terrorism.

India needs to work with Pakistan to cope with terrorism and focus on problem solving in the context of India-Pakistan dialogue.</b> This will make it difficult for Islamic parties and militant groups to play up anti-India sentiments and thus weaken the government’s efforts to cope with extremism and terrorism. A soft and cooperative approach aimed at problem solving including elimination of terrorism will be mutually advantageous.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->