No comfort at all

THE recently stepped-up armed action against militants in the tribal region and other areas of the country might have given some comfort to the Afghan and NATO commanders, but for Pakistan, its backlash has been downright baleful, littered with dead bodies of innocent civilians. According to an ISPR press release on the proceedings of the Tripartite Commission, which consists of Pakistan, Afghanistan and the US, both the Afghan and NATO representatives expressed “satisfaction at the existing level of cooperation” Islamabad was extending them in the anti-terrorist fight. A similar note of appreciation was struck by US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher when he pointed out at Washington that Pakistan’s new government regarded terrorism as its own problem and had committed itself in clear terms to fight it. The US was, therefore, ready to lend its hand in its efforts.