M A I N   N E W S

Can’t rear snakes in your backyard to attack others, Hillary warns Pakistan
TNS & Agencies

Islamabad, October 21
As expected, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday delivered a blunt message and piled more pressure on Pakistan to act against the Haqqani terror network within “days and weeks” and not in ‘months and years’. Accompanied by the CIA director David Petraeus and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, she led the high-level US delegation in her talks with the Pakistani delegation.

The US delegation, she declared after the meeting, had given ‘specifics’ and expected Pakistan to act on them. She did not elaborate on the spicifics though. While she appeared unrelenting in demanding that Pakistan should after the terror network, she later softened her stand somewhat and averred that Pakistan had to play a major role as peacemaker.

“It’s like that old story—you can’t keep snakes in your backyard and expect them only to bite your neighbours,” stated US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton here today at a joint press briefing with Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, Hina Rabbani Khar.

Terrorists have, for far too long, operated from Pakistani soil and this must stop, she added. The attempt, she indicated, should be to first persuade the terror groups to participate in the peace process. “But if that failed, prevent them from committing more violence and murdering more innocent people,” added Clinton.