US should ask Pak why terrorists are asserting more strongly after peace deals: SA expert

Washington, July 30 : A US-based South Asia expert has reportedly said that Washington should question Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani as to why the Taliban, Al Qaeda and other like-minded terrorist groups were asserting more authority in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border areas since the government began pursuing peace deals a few months ago.

The NWFP government had a couple of months ago inked a peace pact with tribal elders according to which the government would stop attacking militants and the latter would cease carrying out militant attacks civilians and government establishments.

"This is an unacceptable situation from an international viewpoint and demonstrates that the Pakistani authorities - in an effort to end attacks inside Pakistan - are likely to compromise too much in their negotiations," Lisa Curtis, the South Asia expert at the Heritage Foundation, has written in a commentary.

She writes that while avoiding a threatening tone that would likely be counter-productive, US officials should convey a serious message to Pakistan that its military capability and economic resources may not be sufficient to handle the sophisticated and well-armed insurgency growing in the Tribal Areas, reported the Daily Times.

To address the situation, she adds, US and Pakistan will have to work more closely in co-ordinating military operations, sharing intelligence, and improving communications that thwart cross-border movement from Pakistan into Afghanistan.

"Time is not on the side of the new government to deal effectively with the international threat building in the Tribal Areas unless it accepts US advice and assistance," she says in her commentary.

ANI