A tough-talking US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today told Pakistan it could not "keep snakes" in its backyard and said the country must act against terror and "squeeze the Haqqani network".
In a blunt message to Pakistan, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton on Friday demanded greater cooperation from the country to “squeeze” the Haqqani network responsible for attacks in Afghanistan, saying Islamabad could not keep snakes in its backyard.
“It’s like that old story — you can’t keep snakes in your backyard and expect them only to bite your neighbours. Eventually, those snakes are going to turn on whoever has them in the backyard,” Clinton said at a joint news conference with Pakistani foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar.
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“We asked very specifically for greater cooperation from Pakistan to squeeze the Haqqani network and other terrorists because we know that trying to eliminate terrorists and safe havens on one side of the border is not going to work,” she said.
Clinton had said earlier that the US intended to “push the Pakistanis very hard” to remove militant safe havens and tackle groups like the Haqqani network.
Khar did not respond to questions about the US demand for action against groups like the Haqqani network, and said Pakistan's future strategies would be guided by a resolution adopted by a recent meeting of the country’s political parties, which called for giving “peace a chance”. PTI
Rezaul Hasan Laskar is Foreign Editor with the Hindustan Times, which he joined in 2015. He began as a journalist in his hometown of Shillong in northeast India and has worked in newspapers and wire services over the years. He moved to New Delhi in 1997 and initially focused on defence, national security, Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast, while also working of foreign policy and international relations. He has been part of the media delegation accompanying PMs on foreign visits and has reported from destinations ranging from Tibet to Ukraine. Between 2007 and 2013, he was the Press Trust of India correspondent in Pakistan, one of only two Indian journalists allowed to report from the country. He extensively covered Pakistan’s domestic politics and the life of the common people, as well as the fallout of the 2008 Mumbai attacks on India-Pakistan relations and the subsequent trial in Pakistan of the suspects involved in the attack. As part of his reportage in Pakistan, he travelled the breadth of the country, from the Swat Valley to Balochistan. Reza’s first gig in journalism was writing a weekly music column, and music – especially classic rock – remains a keen interest. He is also a movie buff and a keen photographer.
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