US warns Pak to act or else it will not able to save it fourth time

Washington, Dec 21 (ANI): Pakistan has been clearly informed that the United States is not satisfied with what Pakistan had done so far for eradicating terrorism from its soil, with Washington asking Islamabad to come down heavily on "non state actors" operating from its soil.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has urged Pakistan publicly and privately to understand the gravity of the current situation and take immediate steps to stop terrorists from using its soil for attacking others in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror strikes.

According to US and diplomatic sources a much stronger message was conveyed to Pakistan at a meeting Rice had with Islamabad's national security adviser Mahmud Ali Durrani, Dawn reported.

Diplomatic sources in Washington described the meetings as a follow-up of Secretary Rice's visit to Islamabad earlier this month when she used her influence to prevent the Mumbai incident from leading to an armed conflict between India and Pakistan.

"The curt message that Durrani and the Pakistani team received from the Americans was: This is not 2002 and you cannot do what President Musharraf did after 9/11. In the past, you swept everything under the carpet while the problems were allowed to fester. No more," said a senior diplomatic source familiar with the talks.

The Americans, according to these sources, told the Pakistanis that the Mumbai attack was no ordinary event and the tendency in Pakistan to deal with this as a minor incident was going to hurt the country.

"The message the Americans gave was: this is the Third time, we are saying such a thing. We may not be able to bail you out the fourth time," the source said.

"Global terrorism is not just an India-Pakistan dispute. We see LeT and Jamaat-ud-Dawa at par with al Qaeda. Pakistan should stop thinking of this as just another round of India-Pakistan altercations."

In a speech at Washington's Council on Foreign Relations, Rice said what Pakistan had done so far to catch those responsible for last month's terrorist attacks in Mumbai was not enough.

"You need to deal with the terrorism problem. And it's not enough to say these are non-state actors. If they're operating from Pakistani territory, then they have to be dealt with," said the top US diplomat when asked what her message was to Pakistan.

The Pakistani team, which included Ambassador Husain Haqqani, learned from both Stephen Hadley and Rice that the Americans were not satisfied with what Pakistan had done so far for eradicating terrorism from its soil. (ANI)