Opinion | Editorials
Zardari needs to act now
Pakistan has to get control of Fata and should not tolerate militants.
- Gulf News
- Published: 23:25 October 5, 2008
Pakistan's increasingly troubled relations with the US are a growing international problem. The US troops in Afghanistan have increased their cross-border attacks on suspected Al Qaida and Taliban sites as they seek security there, and these attacks have naturally offended the Pakistani government and people.
But from their side the Pakistanis must admit that there is a problem with the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), in the sense that they are not administered at all. The Pakistani government has failed to get control of Fata, and has largely left the 6 million inhabitants to run the region themselves.
For decades this did not matter much to anyone in the outside world, but they do now as the tribal areas are on the frontline of Nato's war against Al Qaida, and the freewheeling support of the Fata inhabitants for the Taliban and Al Qaida matters a lot.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari must build a consensus around the need to fight and defeat the militants. His plans for a closed-door session for both houses of parliament this week to be briefed by chiefs of the Army and Intelligence show that he wants to build a consensus. He also must find the political will to enforce it.
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