Terrorists seeking to intimidate Pakistani people, says S. Asia expert

Washington, Sept.21 : An expert on South Asian affairs has claimed that the bombing of the Marriot Hotel in Islamabad and the resultant loss of 53 lives, besides injuries to many more, is an indication that terrorists want to intimidate the people of Pakistan.

Lisa Curtis, a senior research fellow on South Asia at The Heritage Foundation, said: "The horrific bombing of the Marriott Hotel Friday night in Islamabad while many Pakistanis were celebrating the traditional breaking of the fast for he Muslim holy month of Ramadan is a further reminder that terrorists seek to intimidate the Pakistani people and authorities through senseless death and destruction."

Pakistani leaders have courageously vowed that Pakistan will not serve as a safe haven for these terrorists whose radical global agenda is a threat to all civilized nations.

She said that Pakistan and the U.S. should work together through a combination of targeted military operations and political and economic initiatives that uproots the international terrorist threat emanating from Pakistan's tribal areas.

"It is only through close US-Pakistan operational coordination and intelligence sharing and U.S. assistance that bolsters the Pakistan military's counterterrorism and counterinsurgency capabilities that Pakistan can avoid being engulfed by the terrorist scourge," Curtis said.

"What Pakistan does to guard itself against the terrorist threat will also help secure the rest of the civilized world from further acts of barbaric and senseless terrorist violence," the Washington Roundtable for the Asian Pacific Press quoted her as saying further.

ANI