Slamming Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf for indulging in a "double game" on the issue of fighting terrorist infrastructure in his country, a leading American daily has said the US government should attack Al Qaeda and other terror targets located inside Pakistan "with or without" the "meretricious" military ruler's cooperation.
In a stinging editorial, the day after the departure of the Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, the The Washington Post said ever since the war on terrorism began "this meretricious military ruler (Gen Musharraf) has tried to be counted as a US ally while avoiding an all out campaign against the Islamic extremists in his country" that would perhaps include Osama bin Laden and his top aides.
"Despite mounting costs in American lives and resources, he has gotten away with it".
Pointing that Pakistan has failed to act against extremist groups that carry out terrorist attacks against India and Afghanistan, The Post disputes Musharraf's "boast", as recently repeated by Aziz, that Pakistan has arrested hundreds of al Qaeda militants and deployed thousands of troops along the border region.
"Yet Gen Musharraf has never directed his forces against the Pashtun Taliban militants who use Pakistan as a base to wage war against American and Afghan forces across the border. He has never dismantled the Islamic extremist groups that carry out terrorist attacks against India."
It said Musharraf has not cleaned up the madrassas and has "pardoned and protected" the "greatest criminal proliferator" of nuclear weapons technology in history A Q Khan.
"In keeping with his double game, Gen Musharraf's government publicly criticised the latest attack even though his intelligence services reportedly cooperated with it. Now he and Aziz...are saying that US forces should carry out no more such attacks" without the approval of Islamabad.
"We'll assume that's more of their bluster. Even if it is not, Mr. Bush should ignore it," The Post says stressing that Musharraf perhaps cannot be forced to side decisively with Washington against the terrorists as this administration had once hoped.
"But Mr Bush must take every available measure to eliminate the al Qaeda and Taliban operations in Pakistan.If targets can be located they should be attacked -- with or without Gen Musharraf's cooperation," the editorial said.
