Daily Times, March 9, 2006
Pakistan-US relationship ‘coherent’ for first time
Staff Report
LAHORE/ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON: For the first time Pakistan’s relationship with the United States has been packaged in something “coherent” but several “course corrections” will need to be made by Islamabad for its ties with Washington to flourish, a core establishment insider with knowledge of US-Pak relations has told Daily Times.
The insider admitted that Pakistan had many problems, all of its own making. “Some are still there. However, it is a good development that for the first time there is a joint statement by Pakistan and the US that unambiguously states that there now exists a “strategic partnership” between the two countries. And for the first time there is the initiation of a strategic dialogue between two identified state persons. Also initiated, the source added, are serious contacts in the areas of energy, economics and trade, education, science and technology and defence. With time, many of them will find implementation.”
The insider said that “It is now up to Pakistan as to how it ensures progression in this relationship. For the first time, the relationship has been packaged into something coherent. Pakistan has to establish a new track record on nonproliferation and democracy. It has to get its house in order. Pakistan is definitely behind India but that should not deter its government or its people. The country’s ‘military-centric’ and ‘India-obsessed’ policies should be a thing of the past, except that Pakistan must continue to try and find a solution to Kashmir. It is easy to play the blame game but very difficult to chart a course, given the point where Pakistan now is, and where it wants to go.”
Daily Times, March 9, 2006
Pakistani cities at terrorism risk: State Dept
WASHINGTON: The US State Department in a travel warning described all Pakistani cities, including Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore, as bearing “high terrorist risk”
The department described Pakistan as a country with “extreme security and travel threat in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, high terrorist risk in Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore and all other cities.”
The advisory says, “Pakistan has been a conflicted state ever since it was founded in 1947 when a section of India was cordoned off to make a Muslim state. Two wars were subsequently fought over Kashmiri, and a third resulted in the creation of Bangladesh. Nuclear testing by India prompted copycat testing in Pakistan in 1998, and since then militant, religious and extremist groups have congregated there to target American and Western interests by destroying their properties. Islamabad and the tribal areas are particularly extremely dangerous and targeting Western business interests. Extreme hatred for Americans and Westerners is very common among general public.” khalid hasan
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