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US rebuffs Pakistan on terrorism issue

In a rebuff to Pakistan, United States House International Relations Committee chairman Benjamin Gilman has refused to accept a request from Islamabad's lobbyists not to conduct a hearing on terrorism in South Asia which would mention Pakistan.

Republican Congressman Dan Burton, championing the Pakistani cause, had written to Gilman that he was concerned that there would be an "unfair focus placed upon Pakistan during the hearing" scheduled for today.

A hearing with exclusive focus on Pakistan would be counter-productive and could agitate the "volatile atmosphere" in South Asia, Burton warned Gilman.

Turning down the request, Gilman said he did not believe the hearing entitled 'Global Terrorism: South Asia, the new locus' would "unfairly focus on Pakistan''.

But, he added, "The record of Pakistan in the fight against terrorism is mixed and the (US) administration is prepared to clarify that point in testimony before the committee."

The hearing was expected to focus on Afghanistan, which harbours terrorist mastermind Osama Bin Laden, he said.

Gilman pointed out that Pakistan's involvement was not only in Kashmir and referred to the State Department's annual terrorism report in which Islamabad was criticised for "failure to end support to elements that conduct terrorism training in Afghanistan".

The report slammed Islamabad's inaction in interdicting travel of militants to and from camps in Afghanistan, preventing militants from acquiring weapons and blocking financial and logistical support to these training camps, he said.

PTI

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