Pakistan made a 'scapegoat' in terror war

NEW YORK - Reaffirming Pakistan's commitment to fight extremists, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said his country was being made a 'scapegoat' for the 'failures' of the US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan to contain the insurgency in the neighbouring country.

He also said that recent US military raids inside Pakistan's tribal areas violated its sovereignty and threatens the gains made in the anti-terror fight. 'I'm afraid that a relatively recent element in this already difficult war threatens to undo what we have already achieved', he said in a speech at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School on Wednesday.

'I am referring to US attacks in the Pakistani territory'.

'US troops are going into Pakistan in hot pursuit to threaten the elements that threaten Pakistan. This is certainly one way of looking at this matter. However, the Pakistani public rightly sees the attacks as a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty', the FM told a large gathering of students and faculty members.

'It hurts us even more when the transgressor is our friend and ally, the US.If there are actions to be taken, those actions will be taken by Pakistan'.

The US actions risk further alienating the population of the tribal areas and the wider populace, he added.

'The Pakistan public rightly sees such attacks as a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty', he said.

'We must not take any action that hardens the resolve of those already committed to violence'.

'The struggle against terrorism is the defining struggle of our times', he added.

Describing terrorism that has devastated Pakistan as the 'single biggest challenge we face as a nation', he said that when terrorists hit the twin towers in New York in 2001 it was not an attack on the US alone. 'It was an attack against all civilised societies. Terrorism poses a threat to all of us. It demands a response from all of us', he added.

He said it would be helpful if one could understand the genesis of the genie Pakistan was grappling with.

'We inherited the terrorism issue in the wake of the war against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan', he said.

'Unfortunately while we won the war, we lost the peace. The spectacle of the Berlin Wall being breached and Soviet satellites gaining freedom in Europe claimed US attention and just when Afghanistan and Pakistan needed US and international support the most, it found itself abandoned', he said.

In his speech, Qureshi gave background to the the grave situation now prevailing along the Pak-Afghan border that basically stemmed from the 1979 Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan, with the US and Pakistan backing the resistance fighters which ultimately drove out the Red Army.

Washington's abandonment of the fighters eventually led to the emergence of the Taliban, who are now aggressively pursuing their ideology in the region.

'Pakistan is a victim of terrorism', he said.

'I must therefore confess to a degree of bewilderment that Pakistan is seen more as a problem in some US circles than as a partner in this defining struggle of our times'.

He said Pak govt forces have been fighting militants in the remote and rugged border areas since 2004 and suffered hundreds of casualties.

'We are at war in FATA against the extremists',he said.

'We have lost more than 1200 soldiers in this war. This includes one three star, one two star and a number of one star generals. Other than US casualties in Iraq, this is the largest number of casualties sustained by any country fighting terrorism. Additionally thousands of civilians have been killed in suicide bombings and targeted killings'.

He said military force alone cannot win the war there or in Afghanistan where govts, including the US, must win support of the people through other means.

'Force must be complemented by political, economic and social engagement',he said. 'Force alone is an insufficient objective to win the hearts and minds of the populace'.

He acknowledged the presence of Taliban and al Qaeda fighters in the border areas but rejected that there were safe havens there.

He called on the US to provide more night-time fighting equipment and urged Afghanistan to add hundreds more military posts along its side of the border to match those installed by Pakistan.

He also gave a frank appraisal of the daunting challenges of rising food and fuels prices Pakistan faces as it moves towards full democracy following eight long years of former President Pervez Musharraf's dictatorial rule.

The challenges, he said, must be overcome within the space of months or at the most a year or so. 'Only then can we afford to take a look at various developmental issues we face like provision of meaningful contemporarily relevant education, provision of healthcare, dealing with the dilapidated infrastructure and bringing Pakistan into the international economic mainstream'.