Taseer asks world to learn from Pak success in combating terrorism

WASHINGTON, May 18 (APP) - Pakistan on Tuesday rejected suggestions of the United States pressure on it to "do more" in fighting militants, with Governor of Punjab province asserting that instead the world should learn from Islamabad's successful anti-terror campaigns. Governor Salman Taseer said Pakistan wants a relationship based on mutual respect with the United States and reiterated that Pakistani nation is fighting its own war against militants.

"We have shown the way we can handle it much better," Taseer said in a talk at the Middle East Institute, citing military campaigns in Swat and tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

Taseer was commenting on reports that National Security Advisor James Jones and CIA Director Leon Panetta are in Islamabad to press Pakistan to "do more."

Instead, the NATO and US need to learn from Pakistan's model of a successful campaign in Swat and other valleys, the Governor said in the speech, described as candid and frank by former US ambassador to Pakistan Wendy Chamberlin, who heads the Middle East Institute.

Contrasting counterterrorism efforts on both sides of the Afghan border, Taseer said Pakistan has deployed as much as 150,000 troops in its northwestern areas for operations against militants, which enjoy strong political backing under the democratically elected government.

Continuing, the governor Punjab said despite having limited rsources Pakistan has cleared several areas of militants. At the same time, he pointed out, close to 3.5 million people displaced due to operations have now returned home and there were no famines, no food scuffles or outbreak of disease in the camps.

Governor Taseer also took a swipe at critics of Pakistan's anti-terror performance and commenting on American anchorperson Fareed Zakaria's frequent references to Pakistan as "epicenter of terrorism," said the ground reality negates such allegations.

Quite contrarily, the Pakistani military's actions have made the country inhospitable for terrorists, he remarked.

The governor also reminded critics of Pakistan's anti-terror effors the unrivaled sacrifices the Pakistani nation has made in the fight against militants.

Governor Taseer told the audience in response to a question that Faisal Shahzad, the suspect behind failed Times Square bombing attempt on May 1, is an American and pointed to the fact that America is a nation of immigrants, where people form all over the world have come and settled.

He also recounted that terrorists behind 9/11 attacks belonged to several different nations, got flight lessons in the United States, operated from Germany and got inspiration from Egypt. "So what do you do? Start bombing all these places?," he said questioning the military-along approach to counterterrorism.

Salman Taseer welcomed the Kerry-Lugar assistance bill, saying it symbolizes US long-term engagement with Pakistan.

The governor, however, said Islamabd seeks equal trade access to the US market for the country's textile products. "We are just asking for equal access," he stressed, making the point that it is expansion in trade with world markets which will help bolster the Pakistani economy in the long-term and raise the quality of life of people.