Taliban created by government, military as hedge against India: Pak Experts

Islamabad, June 24 (ANI): While Pakistan does not leave any stone unturned in blaming foreign countries, including India and the US for the Taliban menace, Pakistan based experts have refuted such notions saying that the insurgents are a local product.

Speaking at a conference, 'Countering Talibanisation: The Way Forward' here, several experts blamed the government and the military for nurturing the Taliban and other extremist organizations to use them against rival countries, particularly India.

"If someone calls Taliban agents of the US, I will not accept it. They are a local product," said Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy, a famous analyst.

Hoodbhoy stressed that Taliban was neither the product of US nor Israel or India, as claimed by a certain fraternity; rather, he said the extremists were produced at local seminaries.

Speaking on the occasion, the Awami National Party (ANP) Senator, Afrasiab Khattak opined that Pakistan must stop nurturing terror against its neighbours, and learn to live peacefully with Iran, China, Afghanistan and India.

"There is no smoke without fire," said Khattak.

He blamed several former military generals for creating the Taliban in their bid to gain strategic depth in the region, and in case of an altercation with India.

Khattak also charged the United States of providing help and funding the extremists in the past to crush communism.

"Thousands of seminaries were set up to produce Taliban, who were described as Mujahideen lovingly by the West. The West funded the Taliban to defeat communism and this derailed Pakistan," The News quoted Khattak, as saying.

Chairman of the Parliament's Committee on National Security, Raza Rabbani also highlighted that militants have been funded by foreign powers over the last several years, and this practice which must be stopped if Pakistan actually wants to alienate itself from the menace which has now turned into a monster.

"The problem of militancy is not so simple. It is multi-dimensional. The world powers know it well from where it has been funded and nurtured. There is a need to stop the outside funding," said Rabbani. (ANI)