Militants from Afghanistan are still holding 30 Pakistani children hostage, demanding the release of their arrested partners in exchange for setting them free.
Meanwhile, Islamabad has urged Kabul to secure the release of these children. It also expressed its concern over cross-border attacks on our military check posts by militants from Afghanistan. It is President Karzai’s responsibility to ensure that these kids are set free and that no such incident ever occurs again.
Raids by marauding terrorists from Afghanistan are taking on horrific proportions. ISAF Commander General James Jones, who was in Islamabad on Wednesday, was told in no uncertain terms by our top brass that these attacks must be brought to an end.
But if press reports are to be believed he just ignored the demand because ISAF is disinterested in launching action against those who are engaged in these cross-border incursions.
This shows that the US, our so-called ally, is only too happy to see such troublemakers run amuck on our soil, carrying out deadly attacks. After all that Pakistan has done for it, the US is backstabbing it with impunity.
For those who had witnessed the aftermath of the Soviet war in Afghanistan and Pakistan when the US left, it is history repeating itself and in a much worse form.
SAMRA BANO
Karachi
