Author: Anwar Iqbal
Publication: Washington Times
Date: April 29, 2004
URL: http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20040429-024052-3972r.htm
The U.S. State Department Thursday
absolved Pakistan of all charges of supporting terrorism and praised the
country as "one of America's most important partners" in the battle against
Islamist extremists.
The report on Pakistan, released
with the "Patterns of Global Terrorism" report for 2003, does not have
a single negative observation and acknowledges the difficulties the country
faces in fighting militants.
"Pakistan continues to be one of
the United States' most important partners in the global coalition against
terrorism. President Pervez Musharraf has himself been the target of terrorist
violence, narrowly escaping two assassination attempts in late 2003," it
points out.
Pakistan joined the U.S. efforts
to fight terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States,
when it dumped its former Taliban allies and provided bases to U.S. forces
for operations in neighboring Afghanistan.
Although both the countries have
maintained close ties since then, in the past, U.S. officials and media
reports have often blamed Pakistan for not doing enough to fight militants.
The most prominent critic of Pakistani policies in the Bush administration
is Washington's envoy to Kabul, Zalmay Khalilzad, who has publicly accused
Pakistan of allowing Taliban and al-Qaida extremists to operate from its
territory.
"Al-Qaida, Hizbe Islami and Taliban
elements are in Pakistan and are crossing from Pakistan to attack our forces,
attack Afghan forces and NGOs," he said while talking to a group of Pakistani
journalists in Kabul earlier this month.
"For us, (were) Pakistan to become
a sanctuary for these people to plan and to get trained and come back with
weapons to attack, (it) will not be good," he said.
Al-Qaida elements, he said, were
hiding in Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal zone where more than 100 people
were killed in a military operation last month, including 43 Pakistani
soldiers.
Supporters of Hizbe Islami, a group
headed by a former Afghan prime minister, and now an anti-U.S. warlord,
Gulbadin Hekmatyar, are also operating in Pakistan's tribal areas.
The State Department report, however,
ignores Khalilzad's claim and notes that Pakistan is conducting operations
in the tribal belt along the Pakistan-Afghan border, "capturing and killing
a number of terrorist operatives."
The United States, the report says,
is assisting Pakistan's efforts to establish a government presence along
the Pakistan- Afghanistan border and eliminate terrorist safe havens.
The State Department also acknowledges
the help the United States has received from Pakistan in the fight against
militants. "Pakistan's military, intelligence, and law enforcement agencies
are cooperating closely with the United States and other nations to identify,
interdict and eliminate terrorism both within Pakistan and abroad."
The report says that Pakistan has
apprehended "hundreds of suspected operatives" of militant groups and handed
them over to the United States. Among those captured in 2003 were Khalid
Shaykh Muhammad -- allegedly the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks -- and
Walid Bin Attash -- a prime suspect in the attack on the USS Cole in October
2002.
The report points out that when
several militant and sectarian groups that had been banned in 2002 began
operating under new aliases, the Pakistani government banned them as well.
"Pursuant to its obligations under
(relevant) U.N. Security Council resolutions, Pakistan continues to work
with the U.N. Sanctions Committee to freeze the assets of individuals and
groups identified as terrorist entities linked to al-Qaida or the Taliban,"
the report says.
Pakistan also has signed 11 of the
12 international conventions and protocols relating to terrorism and is
a party to 10, the report adds.
The State Department notes that
Pakistani courts continue to respond to both international and domestic
cases of terrorism.
"In April 2003, an anti-terrorism
court in Karachi convicted four defendants charged with organizing the
bombing of the U.S. Consulate in June 2002 in Karachi and, in June 2003,
convicted three men charged with the bombing in May 2002 that killed 11
French naval technicians," the report says.
"In November 2003, the same court
handed down death sentences for three members of the banned extremist groups
Lashkar-i- Jhangvi for planning and committing sectarian murders."
Reviewing Pakistan's cooperation
in the war against terror, the report observes: "The U.S.-Pakistan joint
counter-terrorism efforts have been extensive. They include cooperative
efforts in border security and criminal investigations as well as several
long-term training projects."
In 2002, the United States and Pakistan
established a working group on counter- terrorism and law enforcement cooperation.
The meetings provide a forum for discussing ongoing U.S.-Pakistani efforts
and a means for improving capabilities and cooperation.
"Pakistan provides significant assistance
in the investigation of international terrorism, acting on leads provided
to its counter- terrorism and law enforcement agencies by the United States
and other nations," the report concludes.
