PESHAWAR: As US pressure to ‘do more’ continues to mount on Pakistan, a top Pakistani Military Commander has spoken out against Washington for having double standards and for seeking to make Islamabad a scapegoat for its failure to beat insurgency in the Pakistan/Afghanistan region.
“Why do they raise their fingers towards Pakistan? It is shifting the blame on to others,” believes Lt Gen Khalid Rabbani, the Corps Commander for Peshawar.
US efforts to negotiate a peace-deal with insurgents in Afghanistan means the US government can no longer expect Pakistan to attack all the militant factions on its side of the border - many of which Islamabad has also reached out to in the past.
Lt Gen Rabbani defended the Pakistani government’s dealings with North Waziristan-based militant Commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur.
Bahadur is believed to have signed a nonaggression pact with the government. “At the moment he seems to be trying to keep himself out of trouble.”
He said US and NATO were in contact with insurgents in Afghanistan to try and ‘co-opt them into the peace process’.
“Something has to be done, and it’s in the offing,” said Lt Gen Rabbani, who commands over 150,000 soldiers and paramilitary forces. “North Waziristan is the only region we haven’t cleared. It should be done as early as possible.”
Copyright Associated Press, 2012
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