The only anwser to the question that how terrorism can be controlled is the unconditional surrender of militants. If they are not ready to surrender then shoot them as they are criminals. In tribal areas they have committed many crimes. They have killed a lot of people. All militants should be tried in the court of law. But the government of Pakistan is going against the wishes of people. They have again started negotiations with the militants. Actually they want to impose these militants on the tribesmen as they are the most obedient servants of the rulers.
According to report carried by several newspapers of Pakistan, after watching from the sidelines for a few weeks, the United States on Tuesday finally raised objections to Pakistan's efforts to negotiate a peace deal with militants in the tribal areas.
In a written testimony submitted to a congressional panel, Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte also indicated that Islamabad did not consult Washington before making the new peace move as the US learned about it from the media.
"The media has reported that the government of Pakistan has been exploring peace agreements with certain groups in the tribal areas," he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "Given past failures, we have raised our concerns about these negotiations with Pakistan's leaders."
US officials had so far been expressing reservations about the deal, reminding Islamabad that a similar effort by the Musharraf government in 2006 only helped militants regroup and rearm.
The US media also had quoted unnamed official sources as saying that Washington has conveyed its opposition to the proposed deal to Islamabad.
But so far, Mr Negroponte is the first senior US official to acknowledge publicly that the United States not only has concerns about the deal, it also has conveyed its concerns to Pakistan.
In the same paragraph, Mr Negroponte, however, assures Pakistan's new leaders that the US opposition to the proposed deal should not be seen as a rejection of the country's democratic set-up.
"It is our belief that a moderate government with a democratic mandate has been and will continue to be a good partner in this extremely difficult effort," he said.
"We are now working equally hard with Pakistan's leaders, including the moderate Awami National Party which won elections in the NWFP, to explore how we can help the new government of Pakistan extend the authority of the Pakistani state to the tribal areas."
In the beginning of his statement, Mr Negroponte spelled out why the United States remains concerned about Pakistan.
"Pakistan is the world's second most populous Muslim state. It has nuclear weapons, and it is on the front lines of the battle against international terrorism, the most serious security threat of the 21st century," he said.
Mr Negroponte's statement also echoes the Afghan position on this issue, which insists that Afghanistan should be involved in any peace move Pakistan makes in the tribal areas.
The Afghan position goes beyond the war on terror and mirrors Kabul's traditional rejection of the Durand Line as an international border.
Mr Negroponte, however, confined himself to the war on terror. "The terrorist problem in Pakistan and the terrorist problem in Afghanistan are inextricably intertwined," he said.
"What happens on the Afghan side of the border has a direct impact on Pakistan just as what happens on the Pakistani side affects Afghanistan."
Muhammad Khurshid, a resident of Bajaur Agency, tribal areas situated on Pak-Afghan border is journalist by profession. He contributes articles and news stories to various online and print newspapers. His subject matter is terrorism. He is also heading Voice For Peace working against terrorism in tribal areas. The aim of the Voice For Peace is restoration of peace in Bajaur Agency, tribal areas and whole world.
Good article Mr Khurshid. You are the only Pakistani writer i have seen that has called the 'Militants' by their real names. Why doesn't everyone else see them for what they are..criminals. Criminals who hurt their own countrymen more than anyone else. Heads of State should not be negotiating with criminal gangs of killers.
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on Thursday, May 22, 2008 at 2:58:59 AM
