‘Pakistan should worry about terrorism, not India’

LAHORE Daily Times Monitor

* US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman says tensions with India over Kashmir are diverting Pakistan from fight against extremism
* US Senate’s Homeland Security chairman says it’s difficult to convince Pakistani establishment of extremism being the
real threat

The greatest threat Pakistan faces today comes from terrorism, not India, two US leaders have said.

Speaking at Harvard University, General David Petraeus of the Central Command on Monday said the government in Islamabad needed a change in its mindset towards its neighbour similar to what happened in the US after the Cold War.

“The existential threat facing Pakistan,” he said, “is internal extremists and not India.”

Diversion: Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last month that tensions with India over Kashmir were diverting Pakistan from the fight against extremism.

India realises the “desirability of reducing tensions” so Pakistan can focus its efforts on combating terrorists, Petraeus told reporters. But the five-year peace process between the neighbours has been stalled since the November attacks in Mumbai. India blamed the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyaba for the assault, which Petraeus called “a true 9/11 moment” for India.

Many in Pakistan’s government recognise that extremist elements pose a threat to its authority and must be brought under control, Petraeus said.

According to government estimates, terrorism has cost Pakistan $35 billion in economic losses and damage to infrastructure. More than 3,500 terrorist incidents have occurred since 2007, killing an average of 84 people per month this year.

Separately, Senator Joseph Lieberman told the Council on Foreign Relations, an American think-tank, “Pakistanis have to understand that their major enemy in the region is no longer India, but it’s extremism. In fact, they have a common enemy in that with the Indians.”

Difficulty: Lieberman, chairman of the US Senate’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, admitted, however, that it was difficult to convince the Pakistani establishment. “That’s a tough sell,” he said.

Responding to questions, Senator Lieberman reiterated his view that any new aid to Pakistan needs to be conditional.