Aziz warns of blowback from ‘moving too fast’

Fends off criticism Pakistan has not done enough against terrorism

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top foreign policy official warned on Friday that pushing too fast against all militants in the country could lead to ‘blowback’ in the form of more terrorist attacks.

Prime Minister’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz sought to deflect criticism that Pakistan has not done enough to crack down on the Haqqani Network and that it still shelters Afghan Taliban leaders. He said he will defend Pakistan’s record of fighting militants when meeting this weekend with a US congressional delegation headed by Senator John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Forces Committee.

“I think what we have achieved in these three years is quite remarkable,” Aziz told Reuters, citing the ongoing military operation to destroy militant hideouts in North Waziristan near the Afghan border. “But there are risks involved of how far we can go and in what sequence we should go and in what scale we should go.”

Aziz said the military acted “without distinguishing between ‘good and bad’ Taliban” but suggested that seeking a large-scale crackdown on all at once would overstretch the armed forces and lead to more terrorist attacks.



“So we have to make sure that we move in a decisive way, but at a measured pace and according to our capacity, and ensuring that the blowback is manageable,” he said.

He also downplayed strained relations with the US. “They are moving in the right direction and there are of course differences, but I don’t think there is any major crisis in the relationship.”

He also said Pakistan would continue to resist US pressure
to roll back development of short-range tactical nuclear weapons in response to regional rival India’s defence strategy. “If India keeps expanding its nuclear arsenal and other arsenal, Pakistan cannot stay quiet. It has to achieve adequate deterrence,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 2^nd, 2016.