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A Pakistani, again!

A Pakistani, again!

Author: Editorial
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: May 5, 2010
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/253714/A-Pakistani-again!.html

US just won't accept reality

The arrest of a Pakistan-born American man over Saturday's failed car bomb plot in New York's Times Square should be ample motivation for the US Government to rethink Pakistan's position in its anti-terrorism policy. Yet, it is most likely that this will not happen. For, Washington, DC has come to rely so heavily on Islamabad to rescue it in Afghanistan that it is practically unthinkable for the Obama Administration to do something that will make life uncomfortable for those in the Pakistani establishment. Hence, the arrest of 30-year-old Faisal Shahzad - who was granted American citizenship last year - will not get the Americans worked up about the fact that Pakistan is exporting terrorism to countries around the world, including the US. Shahzad was arrested while boarding a UAE-bound flight out of New York's John F Kennedy Airport. Investigators have reasons to believe that he was the one who parked the car laden with explosives in New York's popular entertainment area. Preliminary reports suggest that Shahzad is another David Coleman Headley. He is most probably part of a terrorist sleeper cell linked to a Pakistan-based terror group, in all probability the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba. It is noteworthy that following the bomb scare that gripped New Yorkers over the weekend, a website used by Islamist groups proclaimed that the car bomb plot was the work of the Pakistani Taliban. Yet, the Obama Administration seems to be unable to connect the dots, or simply unwilling to do so.

It is fast becoming clear that the modus operandi of terrorist organisation wanting to strike targets in the US involves smuggling in jihadis to that country through the legal route - like in Shahzad's case - or cultivating potential foot-soldiers domestically - like in Headley's case. The aim here is to carry out terrorist activities from within the US. American security measures that were put in place post-9/11 were aimed at keeping jihadis out. However, if a terror strike were to be carried out from within, security counter-measures might not always work. It is this loophole that the jihadis seem to be exploiting.

Nonetheless, strengthening internal security systems is only one half of the equation. There has to be some policy to stem the flow of the jihadi virus from its very source in Pakistan. And for this to happen, Washington simply cannot continue to mollycoddle Islamabad in the hope that it will one day come through on its promise of cracking down on terrorist organisations operating from Pakistani soil. The US must realise that Pakistan has no benefit in giving up terrorism as an instrument of state policy. For, as long as terrorism exists, Pakistan can continue to ask for civilian and military aid from the US, which, in turn, it can divert towards its anti-India endeavours. As long as Washington continues to be blackmailed by Islamabad in this manner, the export of jihadis from Pakistan to the rest of the world will continue. It is high time that the Americans wake up to reality and call Pakistan's bluff. They must see Pakistan as the core of the problem of global terrorism and not a solution to it. It is only when the US recognises Pakistan's duplicity and stops pampering Islamabad that any headway in combating global terrorism can be achieved.


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