Ackerman warns of ’real’ danger to Pak survival

In view of recent deadly terror attacks in Pakistan, an influential US lawmaker has warned that there is “a real and present danger” to the survival of the Islamic nation housing terrorist safe havens and if it ignores the problem it would be at its “own peril”.

In view of recent deadly terror attacks in Pakistan, an influential US lawmaker has warned that there is “a real and present danger” to the survival of the Islamic nation housing terrorist safe havens and if it ignores the problem it would be at its “own peril”.“There is a real and present danger to Pakistan’s survival, but it comes from inside, not outside the country,” Congressman Gary Ackerman said, referring to the threat posed by terrorist groups inside Pakistan.

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Ackerman, the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Sub-committee of Middle East and South Asia, stated this during a hearing on ‘US Strategy for Afghanistan: Achieving Peace and Stability in the Graveyard of Empires.“The government of Pakistan, and more importantly, the people of Pakistan, must come to realise that the terrorists they have nurtured for decades have now turned on them” as the recent attack on a police training centre in Lahore which claimed eight lives “clearly demonstrates”, he said.

Ackerman, a Democrat, said the question of Pakistan’s role is more complex than Afghanistan and merits its own separate hearing.“Suffice to say that the entire endeavour in Afghanistan is unlikely to succeed if terrorist safe havens in Pakistan are not eliminated,” the top Congressman argued.