Diplomat slams NYT article blaming Pakistan for Islamic State

Press Attaché in Washington says Pakistan should not be blamed for the deteriorating security situation in...

Pakistan’s Press Attaché in Washington Nadeem Hotiana, in a letter to the editor of the New York Times, defended the country against recent allegations levelled by US analyst Carlotta Gall in an NYT article.

"The whole world, including American officials and military commanders, is praising Pakistan’s successful military operations in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. It is strange that Ms. Gall, instead of acknowledging Pakistan’s sincerity, is somehow blaming the country — itself the worst victim of terrorism — for the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan," wrote Hotiana in his letter.



“One has to fly really high on wings of imagination to link the escalating violence in Afghanistan with the presence of a few men hiding somewhere in Pakistan,” he added.

Further, Hotiana went on to point out that the analyst’s reference to reports that Pakistan is responsible for the rise of ISIS in the Middle East ignores the increasingly complex regional politics. Likewise, her suggestion that Pakistan was involved in moving 300 Pakistani jihadists to the core of the ISIS fight is far-fetched.



The Pakistani diplomat suggested that putting blame on his country for every ill of the world may rather be construed as yet another attempt to undermine the fledgling reconciliation process in Afghanistan, where Pakistan, together with China and the United States, is trying its best to bring peace to the region.