US wants Taliban to hate Pakistan: PEW

The Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) on Tuesday said any action against Haqqani network at the behest of America would weaken Pakistan. “This is a conspiracy aimed at making different Afghan Taliban factions enemies of Pakistan,” it said. Pakistan would lose goodwill among Afghan Taliban as well as ability to negotiate a deal if it took action against friendly Taliban groups, said PEW President Dr Murtaza Mughal. He said that Haqqani network was not as deadly as painted by the US and NATO and its capability of conducting operations was limited to three provinces. Dr Murtaza Mughal said the US had been asking the Pakistan Army to launch attacks against Haqqani’s sanctuaries, but it would neither seal the borders nor would it stop drone attacks. “Why Islamabad should take action against the groups that have never launched any attack on Pakistan?” he questioned. He said that Islamabad should take decisions in its own interest, rejecting the US pressure, adding any wrong move can make Afghan Taliban Pakistan’s enemies, which would hurt the country for decades. Dr Murtaza Mughal said that an operation in Balochistan would strengthen the country while the outcome of the operation in North Waziristan would not be different from the earlier operations conducted in FATA. He said: “We are proud of services and sacrifices of ISI without which Pakistan could not remain a stable and sovereign country.”