US welcomes Pakistan measures, doesn't confirm arrests

Washington, Dec 10 (PTI) Describing terrorism as a
"real" threat to improving relations between India and
Pakistan, US has welcomed Islamabad's action against militant
groups following the Mumbai attacks, but stopped short of
confirming details of reported arrests.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice maintained that
these non-state actors "clearly used the Pakistani territory"
for the Mumbai strikes and Pakistan had a responsibility to
act against them.

"The civilian government in Pakistan, a new civilian
government that wants to do the right thing. And in fact, I
believe they’ve begun to do some of the right things," Rice
said in an interview with CBS Radio.

"We are still gathering reports. We’re not yet able to
confirm a lot of what we are reading about arrests and about
action against the camps, but these are serious steps, and we
are pleased at what appears to be a serious set of steps," she
added.

Noting that Pakistan too has been a victim of
terrorism, Rice said, "I want to emphasise, Pakistan is doing
this in its own interest as well, because Pakistan has
suffered greatly from terrorism. And of course, President
Zardari lost his great wife, Benazir Bhutto, to the
terrorists."

"We have not yet confirmed them. We have been told
about some of them. I do believe something very important is
going on here, but I don’t want to have to speak to the
details at this point," Rice said.

She said the motive of the perpetrators of the Mumbai
carnage was to "stir up trouble" between the nuclear armed
neighbours, who had achieved marked improvement in their
bilateral ties.

"These terrorists are undoubtedly unnerved by the
increasingly good relations between Pakistan and India, really
going back before the civilian government but certainly since
President Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani came into power,"
Rice said.

The top Bush administration official said, "In fact,
the Pakistani Foreign Minister was actually in India for a
strategic dialogue during – when this attack took place. And
so clearly, those who want to disrupt good relations between
India and Pakistan were at root."

"It has the side benefit, of course, of making certain
that Pakistan remains focused on the old conflict with India
and Pakistan, which I believe can be resolved effectively
between the parties, rather than on the real threat to
Pakistan and Pakistan’s neighbours, which is the terrorist
threat," Rice added.

Asked to comment on whether the Mumbai terror strikes
were to take pressure off al-Qaida, Rice said, "I don’t know.
We know that bad people tend to travel in the same circles.
Nobody is making a claim here that al-Qaida is responsible for
these attacks or that perhaps they were even involved in them
in any way, but ties between these kinds of groups are pretty
common."

"I don’t know that it was to take pressure off
al-Qaida, but clearly, if Pakistan cannot focus on what is the
real threat to Pakistan, which is the terrorist threat, and
remains focused on a state-to-state threat that is beginning
to subside, then it benefits the terrorists. And I believe
that the Pakistani Government understands that, the Pakistani
military understands that. And this is a very important moment
for Pakistan to respond," Rice added. PTI SK
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