Pakistan to talk anti-terror strategy with Holbrooke

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi talks to journalists on the last day of the 45th Munich Security Conference, at the Bayerischer Hof hotel in Munich, southern Germany yesterday. US Vice President Joe Biden the day before promised a "new tone" in foreign policy under Barack Obama but warned other nations that improved relations were a two-way street. Photo: AFP

Pakistan is expected to discuss a comprehensive strategy to tackle militancy and extremism in the region with US special envoy Richard Holbrooke who is due here Monday, the foreign office said.
President Barack Obama just two days after his inauguration last month named Holbrooke as special US representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Holbrooke is arriving on Monday on a three-day visit to Pakistan for meetings with President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and "in-depth talks" with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the foreign office said in a statement here on Sunday.
"Pakistan has welcomed the appointment of Holbrooke and looks forward to the beginning of a process of constructive engagement with the United States, especially in the wake of assumption of office by President Obama and his team," it said.
"It is Pakistan's endeavour to develop a fresh perspective on issues of peace, security, stability and the development of the region and in particular address the issues of militancy, terrorism and extremism effectively, by adopting a comprehensive and holistic strategy", the statement said.
Key US ally Pakistan also looks forward to "further broadening and deepening of bilateral cooperation" with the United States, the statement added.
Holbrooke, the architect of the 1995 Dayton Accord that ended the three-year Bosnian war, will be responsible for implementing an integrated strategy in US policy towards Afghanistan and Pakistan, US officials have said.
Northwest Pakistan and its rugged tribal regions have been wracked by violence since hundreds of Taliban and al-Qaeda militants fled across the border to escape the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.
Washington says Pakistan's border regions have become a safe haven for the Islamic militants waging an insurgency against international troops based across the border, accusing Islamabad of not doing enough to eliminate the threat.
Pakistan denies the charges. It has deployed thousands of troops in the tribal areas to fight Taliban and al-Qaeda militants.
Earlier Pakistan Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani has said all confidence-building measures with India became "futile" in the wake of the Mumbai attacks and insisted that his government would probe the matter and whoever was involved would be tried according to the laws of the country.
"We were having excellent relations with India. We were on good terms with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh" until the November 26 attacks, he told 'Newsweek' in an interview in its upcoming issue.
India has blamed Pakistan-based elements, including the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Toiba, for the attacks and is awaiting a response to its dossier on the terror strikes handed over to Islamabad on January 5.
"... With this incident all of our confidence-building measures became futile. Now, you can imagine who is the beneficiary of this -- the terrorists," Gilani said.
"Therefore, I assure you and I assure India and I assure the world that whatever information has been given to us, we will probe into it and whoever was involved we will try according to our laws, and we will not allow our territory to be used for terrorism," he said.
Unlike the previous Musharraf regime, the present democratic government, he said, has the ability to control terrorist groups like Lakshar-e-Toiba and Jamaat-ud-Dawa.