The present situation in Pakistan's border provinces with neighbour Afghanistan, especially in the North-West Frontier Province, has been described as a "disaster" by the Washington Post.
ISLAMABAD: The present situation in Pakistan's border provinces with neighbour Afghanistan, especially in the North-West Frontier Province, has been described as a "disaster" by the Washington Post.
While the Pakistani leadership has been insisting that it acted on its own in launching the Oct 30th air strike on a madrassa in Bajaur Agency, killing at least 83 people, officials at different levels have been saying the operation was under American pressures after "piling" up of evidence that the seminary was used to train militants.
Appearing in newspapers here on Sunday, the report foresees turmoil in Pakistan.
After the incident "the doors to peaceful negotiated settlements are closed. I am afraid we are on a war course in the tribal areas," a senior Pakistani official on condition of anonymity has been quoted as saying.
The report gets a fillip from another report in the Pakistani press that provides a twist to the reason why the seminary and its chief, Mualana Liaqat, were targeted in the air attacks.
It says that Liaqat had opposed a peace deal with the government "and repose trust in the military leadership".
After the government signed a peace deal with the pro-Taliban tribals in northern Waziristan on Sep 5, Pakistan had sought to sign another with the tribals of the Bajaur Agency.
Musharraf's action in Bajaur has angered the opposition and the Islamist clergy who claim that children had been killed in the air strike.
The government insists it had evidence of militants being trained in the seminary.
The Post report said the public condemnation of the Bajaur missile attack has been "almost universal" in Pakistan.
Pakistani military and intelligence officials told the newspaper that they had little choice but to bomb the site after they received proof from US intelligence that it was used as a training centre for insurgents.
A refusal to act, the Pakistani officials said, would have damaged their relations with the US, which counts Pakistan as an ally in the war on terror.
According to an intelligence official, "They loaded us with evidence. The strike was inevitable".
Another official called the attack a "major test" of military and intelligence cooperation between the US and Pakistan.
"We thought about other options, but the Americans weren't ready to take chances," he said. "We were caught between the devil and the deep sea."
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}