New report holds Pak army responsible for regional instability

Washington, July 11 (UNI) Pakistan's military is complicit in the worsening security situation in Afghanistan, including the resurgence of the Taliban, terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and the growth of jihadi extremism, says a new report.

The report, released yesterday by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a prestigious think tank here, also says that current Western policies reinforce Pakistan's political weakness and contribute to regional instability by allowing the Islamic country to trade democratisation for its cooperation on terrorism.

In ''Rethinking Western Strategies Toward Pakistan: An Action Agenda for the United States and Europe'', visiting scholar Frederic Grare analyses the cost of continued military rule in Pakistan and presents new guidelines for Western policies.

His key conclusions said Pakistan army has inflated the threat of religious sectarianism and jihadi extremism outside its borders, particularly in Afghanistan and Jammu and Kashmir for its own self-interest.

Faced with this seeming instability and a perceived lack of alternatives, the West adopted a more lenient attitude toward Pakistan's military regime as a moderate stalwart against Islamic extremism.

Restoring stable civilian rule would lessen Pakistan's obsession with the threat posed by India and focus Pakistan's energy on its own economic development, the report said.

It also said out of approximately 10 billion dollar in assistance given to Pakistan since September 11, 2001, only 900 million dollar has gone to development -- the bulk of the remaining being channeled to the military.

The report said that the West should insist General Musharraf to stop violating the constitution by vacating either one of the posts of President or the Chief of the Army Staff and hold free and fair elections with international monitoring.

It said the US financial assistance should be explicitly directed towards any shortcomings that impede Pakistan's cooperation in combating terrorism and remain dependent on results.

UNI