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Borders: Pak. in a bind?

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD MAY 2 . Pakistan is faced with a peculiar `do more' problem on its eastern as well as western borders. For over two decades it had splendid peace on the Afghanistan side but with the collapse of the Taliban, it is now a thing of the past. The United States coalition forces that are operating inside Afghanistan in search of remnants of the Al-Qaeda and the Taliban have been stepping up pressure on Islamabad to do more on its western borders. The situation on the Indian borders hardly needs to be said.

Pakistan was not very happy when the Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, who during his visit last week mentioned some names of the Al-Qaeda operatives and sought cooperation of Pakistan in nabbing them. Implied in his request was the suggestion that they had found shelter in Pakistan. Much to the chagrin of Pakistan, Mr. Karzai even talked about Afghanistan handing over some kind of specific list of fugitives.

For the first time since the October 2001 military operations of the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan, a senior officer of the forces in Afghanistan has said on record that Pakistan must "do more'' to stop the `infiltration'. The officer, Roger King told the Daily Times that Islamabad should do more against Taliban and Al-Qaeda elements targeting the American and Afghan forces in border areas.

``I think that Taliban and Al-Qaeda operatives are even infiltrating right now. Yes, this is infiltration. That is what the enemy is doing. Some of the infiltrating groups are as large as 20 to 30 people.'' He told the daily that "if we have the U.S. and the Pakistani forces moving in areas from where these people cross the border, one side or the other will be able to catch them. When we move along one side of the border, they go back towards the other side of it. If a corresponding force is also deployed there, the enemy will have difficulty finding a safe haven.''

When asked what more can Islamabad do when it had already deployed about 70,000 regular troops along the border, Col. King replied it was not necessary to have them placed in unmovable positions like the guard posts. "We are talking about movement. People are crossing the border everyday even when Pakistan has deployed 70,000 soldiers. ``So, whether you have 70,000 or 8,000 soldiers, it does not make much of a difference. If you are sitting at one spot, the enemy can figure you out and go around you. If you are moving, it becomes much difficult for people to cross the border. What we are proposing to Pakistan is movement along the border in a bid to flush out these people.''

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