Washington, Mar 05 : The United States seem to be mounting intense pressure on Pakistan to launch an immediate crackdown on Al Qaeda, or let it do the job. Yesterday, US Vice-President Dick Cheney reportedly delivered a tough message to Pakistan, saying that Islamabad should act to destroy Al Qaeda hideouts in the tribal zone, or let the Americans do the job.
A senior member of the US Senate Intelligence Committee, Dianne Feinstein said that Cheney had told Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, when he met him in Islamabad last week, that "the Pakistanis either have to let us go in or go in themselves when they have intelligence."
Feinstein, the number two Democrat on the Committee, criticised measures so far taken by Pakistan, terming them "half-hearted". He also urged Islamabad to do more, the Dawn reported.
Taking seriously Al Qaeda and the Taliban's threat to launch fresh attacks in Afghanistan, she said: "There's no question that there's going to be a spring offensive in Afghanistan, that they're trying to reach out, that training is going on, recruitment is going on."
Asked to comment on Pakistan's efforts to fight terrorism, she said: "I think the kind of half measures that the Pakistanis have taken in that particular area don't stand us in good stead."
Ms Feinstein, who as a senior member of the intelligence committee and is privy to the classified information, also indicated that the US might have launched a campaign to persuade Pakistan to take some drastic measures for uprooting the reported terrorist hideouts in tribal areas.
"I think there's an ongoing campaign. More than that, I can't say," said the senator in reply to a question "Is something going on?"
Peter Hoekstra, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, agreed that the tribal region was a "growing threat", but he cautioned that a balancing act was required to ensure that the Musharraf government stays in power. "We need stability in the regime. We need this regime to survive," he said.
But, he also supported the demand for Pakistan to do more. "You know the activities that we've got in Pakistan and along the border - I mean, we've got a full court press going on there. We may want Pakistan to do more things," he said.
He further said that there were reasons that the tribal region was the ungoverned area. "No one has really been able to go into these areas and take control, but the Pakistanis have been doing a number of things to help us go after Al Qaeda," said Peter.
Bureau Report
First Published: Monday, March 05, 2007, 00:00