Pak's own interest, not US warning behind JuD ban

Sridhar Krishnaswami

Washington, Dec 13 (PTI) Pakistan has banned the
Jamat-ud-Dawah for its own interest and not because it was
warned by the Bush administration that it stood to be branded
as a terrorist state, the US has said.

State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack was asked to
clarify a statement by Pakistan's Defence Minister that
Islamabad had to ban the Jamaat because if that hadn't
happened, it would have been branded a terrorist state.

"Is that the message the US has sent out?" McCormack was
asked.

"No," he replied.

"... Pakistan did this because it saw it in its interest.
As we have said many, many times over, the threat from violent
extremists is as much a threat to Pakistani people and the
Pakistani government as it is to anybody else. All that said,
it's a welcome step that they took," he said.

"This is a day-by-day process, and it's something that
requires vigilance every single day, fighting terrorism," he
said making the point that at no time was there any talk of
branding Pakistan as a terrorist state.

He said the ongoing tensions between India and Pakistan
are also likely to be touched upon by Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice when she visits the United Nations next week
for discussion on a range of issues including Zimbabwe and
piracy.

The Spokesman was also asked to clarify if the banning of
the Jamaat, the front organisation of Lashkar-e-Taiba, would
be one of the topics that the Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice would be covering when she visits the UN.

"...there are a lot of different things that she's going
to be talking about up there. I'm sure that she will touch on
the issues related to India and Pakistan. I know that Foreign
Secretary Miliband, at least at this point in time, plans to
be up there and she plans to see him. And if they do get
together, I'm sure that that topic will come up," he added.