News
Friday, May 02, 2008
US adopts wait and watch position on FATA accord
* White House notes similar peace deal with militants failed in past
* State Department says accord an effort to integrate FATA people into ‘Pakistani life’By Khalid Hasan
WASHINGTON: White House press secretary Dana Perino on Thursday reiterated the concerns of the United States government about the agreement signed by Islamabad with militants in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), pointing out that a similar agreement had failed to work before. The State Department, in contrast, was more supportive of the deal reached. In an answer to a question, she said, “It’s important that any agreement be effectively enforced and that it not interrupt any operations where we are going after terrorists in that area. And we are continuing to work with the new government of Pakistan. We think that we can work effectively with them and we have very clear and frank discussions to make sure they understand where we’re coming from.” Meanwhile, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, when asked the same question by the same Indian correspondent, noted that the Pakistan government was trying to peel away those who were reconcilable to a political process, “who want to integrate themselves into the fabric of the Pakistani political life and actually want to have FATA become a fully functioning part of Afghanistan (sic).” He said FATA had not really been governed by the central Pakistani government for the last 60 years. Pakistani life: He continued, “So it’s an effort to try to integrate that region and those people into the Pakistani life. There are going to be those who are irreconcilable to any political process and they need to be dealt with through other means. So, this is an attempt on the part of the Pakistani government to try to achieve a positive goal. And certainly, we support that. Of course, any sort of political dialogue and outreach needs to be integrated with other kinds of efforts, security measures as well as economic and development measures. As for what this might produce, we’ll see. We don’t yet know. There have been attempts in the past that have not succeeded. That’s a tough problem. So we’ll see what the current effort yields. It’s too early to tell.” He added that while the US encouraged the effort underway, it was too early to tell what results it would yield.
Courtesy Daily Times