Washington: Pakistan has made an attempt to reach out to the American public, telling them that it has been a victim, not the perpetrator of terrorism.
As the United States observes the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Pakistan has availed this opportunity to tell the Americans that it was with them in the fight against terrorists.
“Which country can do more for your peace? Since 2001, a nation of 180 million has been fighting for the future of the world’s 7 billion,” said an advertisement published in The Wall Street Journal.
Pakistan had first offered this ad to The New York Times, but they refused to publish it, forcing Pakistani officials to go to a business newspaper with a specialised but influential readership, the Dawn reports.
The ad informs the American public that since 9/11, 21,672 Pakistani civilians have lost their lives or have been seriously injured in an ongoing fight against terror.
The Pakistan Army also has lost 2,795 soldiers, while 8,671 soldiers have been wounded. There have been 3,486 bomb blasts and 283 major suicide attacks.
More than 3.5 million have been displaced, while the country has lost USD 68 billion due to terrorism.
The Pakistani nation is “making sacrifices that statistics cannot reflect”, says a caption above a picture of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who was also assassinated by terrorists in December 2007. “The promise of our martyrs lives on,” it adds.
Despite these sacrifices, the Pakistan stays engaged in “the war for world peace”, with 200,000 troops deployed at the frontline and 90,000 soldiers fighting on the Afghan border, the ad says.
“Can any other country do so? Only Pakistan,” says the advertisement published as an official notice from the Government of Pakistan.
ANI
