Associated Press of Pakistan
Saturday, 2 May 2009.
NEW YORK, May 2 (APP): A former top Pakistani diplomat has said that the rising insurgency in Pakistan could only be reversed through a nationally endorsed strategy, not one “made in America.”
“The surge of militancy threatens Pakistan’s progressive aspirations, but it is not an existential threat,” Munir Akram, who served as Pakistan’s U.N. ambassador from 2002 to 2008, said in a letter published in “The New York Times” Saturday.
Akram was responding to an editorial earlier this week in which the leading American newspaper expressed concern over what it called was a lack of an adequate response to the Taliban advancing towards Islamabad.
“The onus for action against the insurgency cannot continue to be put on the Army, the former envoy said.
”Pakistan is now ruled by a civilian democratic government. Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has declared that the army will carry out the government’s policies. The Swat deal, whatever its flaws, was negotiated by the elected Frontier provincial government and endorsed by the Pakistani Parliament”.
In conclusion, Akram said, “United States aerial strikes, dictation and coercion only strengthen support for the militants in the Frontier and reinforce the common perception that Pakistan is being forced to fight “America’s war.”
Pakistani concerns are further aroused by American demands that Pakistan move troops away from its eastern border even while India continues to deploy three‑fourths of its vast forces against Pakistan”.
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