DIPLOMATIC correspondent of this newspaper has come out with horrific details of all kinds of lethal weapons being supplied to militants in Pakistan from Afghanistan to strengthen their capability to fight back the Armed Forces for a long time. The report reveals that Pakistani authorities were stunned to discover during the ongoing operation, the latest automatic range-fixer cannon, most sophisticated NATO and American sniper rifles, Israeli sub-machine guns and state-of-the-art communication gadgets.

Earlier too this paper highlighted on a number of occasions that Taliban and militants have assumed menacing postures only because of the training, funding and supply of weapons by Pakistan's enemies whose sole objective is to destabilise the country so as to provide an excuse for putting pressure for role back of its nuclear programme. All this was no secret as reports continued to trickle down during the last several months that the militants were being armed by security agencies of some regional and international players. Embarrassed by the disclosure, the United States acknowledged that NATO and American arms were reaching militants in Pakistan but, apparent as face saving, claims that these were weapons stolen in Afghanistan. One fails to understand how huge quantities of arms and ammunition can be stolen and smuggled to FATA and Swat without knowledge of the United States that has latest surveillance and vigilance mechanism in place both on ground and in the air. ISPR spokesman too recently complained that the weapons stolen in Afghanistan were finding their way to the militants in Swat and FATA, which was in fact an indirect reference to interference by some foreign powers in the internal affairs of the country. The magnitude of the problem demands that Pakistan should take up the issue seriously with the US, NATO and other countries. This is necessary to expose the double standard being adopted by our friends, who are demanding Pakistan to do more but are not willing to do more on their part and instead are encouraging those who are creating problems for Pakistan. This is the question of security and survival of Pakistan and our leadership should raise the issue during bilateral talks and at global forums. We would also urge the Opposition political parties and leaders to play their part in this regard as security and integrity of the country is above anything else.

[editorial-Pakistan Observer- June 2, 2009]


Posted on 02 Jun 2009 by Webmaster