Pak has no option but to win ‘war on terror’: Malik
By ANITuesday, July 13, 2010
ISLAMABAD - Criticising the international community for the lack of support in the ongoing ‘war on terror’, Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said that his country has no option but to win the struggle in order to protect its sovereignty.
In an interview with the The News, Malik said though Pakistan is dissatisfied with the international community’s support, it is committed to win the ‘war on terror’.
“Pakistan has no option except to win this lingering war on terror, though the enemy, in the garb of militancy and terrorism, is all out to destabilise Pakistan,” Malik said.
The world would not be a safer place to live in if the war on terror was not won, though Pakistan feels unsatisfied with the kind of international support,” he added.
Malik said that the response of the international community over Pakistan’s call for help in the continuing struggle against militancy and extremism has been “lukewarm”, as the aid and assistance promised to Islamabad by the Friends of Pakistan (FoP) is yet to be fulfilled.
Referring to countries like Sri Lanka, which fought against the Tamil rebels for over 25 years with international support, Malik said there seems to be no immediate end to the ongoing war in the immediate future.
He also claimed that Afghan militants were seeping into Pakistan and creating havoc across the country, and also criticised the NATO and Afghan forces for failing to stop the infiltration.
“Al-Qaeda is the third force which has been carrying out target killings and that is why we have asked Afghanistan to seal the Kunar border along side Pakistan. We would stop their influx into Pakistan by all means,” Malik said.
When asked about Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s reconciliation efforts, which have also received the backing of the US, Malik hinted that the move is unlikely to bear any success.
“But history tells that if you engage one group, the other groups start creating problems. There must be a joint strategy to deal with all the groups, as dealing with one group would ultimately backfire,” he said. (ANI)
