US asks Pakistan to eliminate groups that attacks India

Washington, May 14 (PTI) The United States Thursday
said that it is "important" for Pakistan to eliminate the
groups that carry out terror attacks against India.

"It is important for Pakistan to stop the groups that
carry out terrorism in India. Absolutely," Assistant Secretary
of State for South and Central Asia Richard Boucher told a
group of South Asian journalists here.

Boucher's remark comes at a time when Obama
Administration is reluctant to support a Congressional
legislation which puts this as a condition in lieu of the US
aid to Islamabad.

However, Boucher indicated that the Administration is
not in favour of putting such a clause in the legislation.

"We accept that we, the Congress and actually the
Pakistani government have very similar goals... we do not want
restrictions to make it impossible to achieve the goals that
we all share," Boucher replied when asked about such
legislation in the US House of Representatives, which calls
for such a condition on Pakistan in lieu of tripling the
non-military aid to Pakistan.

"There has never been any question in our mind that
threat to Pakistan from terrorism, comes not just from groups
fighting in Afghanistan and the groups that are up in the
tribal areas. The groups that attack India presents a danger
to Pakistan as well," the outgoing diplomat argued.

Observing that the way such terrorist groups are
carrying attacks endangers Pakistan and also the relationship
between the two countries, Boucher said: "There is no
differentiation, all the terrorists are bad and all need to be
stopped and eliminated."

Referring to the recently concluded tri-lateral Summit
between the US, Afghanistan and Pakistan, he felt that now
there is a commitment on the part of the leadership of both
the countries to stop terrorism in the region.

"What we hear from both (Pakistan) President (Asif
Ali) Zardari and (Afghan) President (Hamid) Karzai is to stop
the terrorists and to go after the groups that have been
afflicting Pakistan and to really deal with this problem in a
resolute manner," Boucher said.

"What that means in terms of the military move, I have
to see, but I think the commitment is there and the action we
see on the ground supports that," he said, adding: "It is fair
to say we see an enormous threat from the terrorist groups and
they see as well. Our commitment is to cooperate with them if
they take on this threat and we see them doing it." PTI LKJ
DEP
NNNN