Pak needs to go after all aspects of terror: US NSA

The US on Thursday said existence of terror groups in Pakistan was against the interest of the region and that country would have to take the "tough" decision of going after such groups without making any discrimination.

New Delhi: The US on Thursday said existence of
terror groups in Pakistan was against the interest of the
region and that country would have to take the "tough"
decision of going after such groups without making any
discrimination.

"In our bilateral relationship with Pakistan, we have
expressed strong concerns over the existence, within the
borders of Pakistan, of terrorist organisations that have
goals to destabilise and attack our way of life, your way of
life, to prevent strategic goals from being achieved in
Afghanistan," US National Security Adviser James Jones said.
He viewed the existence of terror outfits in Pakistan as
being in "violent conflict" with the way the US sees the
world collectively and bilaterally in the 21st century.

"It is contrary to their (Pakistan`s) own interests, for
the future and the stablity of the region to continue to
tolerate the existence of insurgents within their borders," he
told a private TV channel.

He said if Pakistan wants to correct that and show that
it wants the "same thing we want", it will have to "make the
tough decision to go after" the terrorist organisations and
"state concretely and publicly that this is a matter of policy
that this cannot be tolerated."

Asked whether action against Jamat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz
Saeed, the alleged mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks,
would be a test case for Pakistan, Jones said the US expected
Islamabad to deal with all aspects of terror.

"We want to see a more comprehensive programme that
addresses all aspects of terror and all these groups, we are
finding out are linked," he said.
"They are not necessarily targetting one nation or the
other. They are terrorist organisations that have in mind to
disrupt India, to disrupt our way of life and are actively
planning to do that," said Jones who was here on a two-day
visit.

On whether the US has been equally firm in pressing
Pakistan to deal with terror targetted against India, he said,
"We do not subscribe to the idea that a-la-carte terrorism
(which allows one to choose) is a viable strategy".

He emphasised that terrorist organisations are "anathema
for future peace and prosperity, whether it is in this region,
whether it is in our country, whether it is in Europe, whether
it is in Africa or the Middle East."

Asked whether Indian investigators will get more access
to Pakistani-American LeT operative David Coleman Headley, he
said the state of India-US ties was such that the US was
willing to cooperate on anything that New Delhi required to
better understand threats to it from terror outfits.

Jones said the access Indian investigators got to
Headley reflected growing good relations between the two
countries. "We have to have more cooperation on intelligence
matters so that we can be successful in defeating terror," he
said.

PTI

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