U.S. 'report card' indicts Pak.

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

NEW YORK, APRIL 30. South Asia has emerged as a hub for international terrorism with Pakistan and Afghanistan providing support to international terrorist groups, says the U.S. State Department in its report on terrorism, a copy of which was given to The New York Times. The report, which was to have been released tomorrow after a briefing with the administration's top counter-terrorism official, Mr. Michael Sheehan, says Pakistan has sent ``mixed messages'' on terrorism by harbouring and aiding terrorists including many who are fighting in Jammu and Kashmir.

The U.S. apparently has tough words for Afghanistan primarily related to Osama bin Laden, but it stopped short of adding Afghanistan or Pakistan to the list of nations sponsoring terrorism. Adding a country to the list entails some sweeping penalties, primarily on the economic front. Mr. Sheehan said Afghanistan was not added to the list as Washington did not recognise the government there; and Pakistan was excluded even if its record badly needed improvement because ``it is a friendly state that is trying to tackle the problem''.

The report on terrorism is one of the many ``report cards'' the U.S. issues every year on and about the world. This year, South Asia has earned the dubious distinction of being the major hub of international terrorist activity. The 107-page report lists the same seven nations the U.S. has accused since 1993 of aiding and abetting terrorism - Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria. According to the paper, when informed of the State Department report, the Deputy Chief of Mission at Pakistan's Embassy, Mr. Zamir Akram, denied his country had supported or even tolerated saying Washington had failed to present evidence to support such charges.

``If they have evidence they should share it with us. We are more of a target and victim of terrorism than the U.S. has ever been. We need to jointly fight against terrorism. Charges like this simply get our backs up,'' he said. A spokesman for the Taliban in New York also said the administration had not presented evidence of Afghanistan's involvement in terrorism.

The Times says the report is ``severely critical'' of Pakistan, a traditional ally of the U.S. The Clinton Administration, through the report, has said that while Islamabad arrested and extradited several terrorists, it has not stopped support for groups that train terrorists and refused to close certain religious schools ``that serve as conduits for terrorism''.

The U.S. has also said there are ``credible reports'' that Pakistan continues to support groups such as the Harkat-ul- Mujahideen, one of whose leaders was freed from an Indian prison in exchange for hostages aboard an Indian Airlines plane last year.

The report points to the changing trends in terrorist activities which are increasingly turning religious and ideological. Besides, terrorists are now seeking biological, nuclear and chemical weapons of mass destruction as also practising cyber- terrorism. There is a geographic shift too with terrorism moving east to South Asia, specifically Afghanistan.

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