Washington: A Washington based think tank Woodrow Wilson Centre’s Asia programme has argued that declaring Pakistan a ‘state sponsor of terrorism’ will create an irreversible situation, will not help the US situation in Afghanistan.
They also said that the move will fail in forcing Islamabad to change its policies, reported the Dawn.
Labelling a country “a state sponsor of terrorism, is not a surgical instrument, that’s a really, really heavy hammer”, argued Stephen Tankel, an assistant professor at School of Public Affairs, American University, Washington.
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He further added, “The sanctions that come with that pretty much obliterate any chance you have engaging on a whole host of other issues.”
Another panelist, Daud Khattak, Senior Editor of the Radio Mashaal, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, also rejected the suggestion which he believes is counterproductive.
“Let’s declare Pakistan a state sponsor of terrorism today. But what next, if there’s no change? Will you take some more serious steps?” he asked.
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Madiha Afzal, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, Washington, who recently wrote a book on Pakistan — “Pakistan Under Siege: Extremism, Society, and the State” — opposed the proposal, raised at various platforms in Washington.
“There are other avenues, less single-minded approach, to actually make Pakistan move,” she said, while urging the Trump administration to work with China to persuade Pakistan to listen to US complaints about Islamabad’s role in Afghanistan. “Pakistan will listen,” she said.
Two official statements this week — by US Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats at the Senate Intelligence Committee and by Pakistan Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa in Munich — also have had a major impact on the debate in Washington on Pakistan’s role in South Asia, particularly in Afghanistan.
