[DAWN] Pakistain has outlawed the Taliban-linked Haqqani network, officials said on Friday, days after US Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you knowKerry
Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a
lucky hat,conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State...
urged Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
's government to fight groups that threaten Afghan, Indian and US interests.
American officials blame high-profile attacks in Afghanistan on the powerful Haqqani network, which mainly operates out of Pakistain's border areas.
Senior Pak government officials told Rooters a formal announcement of the ban would be made within weeks.
We have decided to ban the Haqqani network as a step in implementing the National Action Plan devised after the (Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
) school attack, said a cabinet member, referring to a massacre of 134 children by Taliban gunnies last month.
The military and the government are on the same page on how to tackle militancy. There is no more 'good' or 'bad' Taliban.
Kerry specifically pressed for action against the Haqqanis, including banning the group, the official added.
A second official, a minister who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed the decision to outlaw the Haqqani group.
The United States accuses the Pak intelligence agency of supporting the Haqqani gunnies and using them as a proxy in Afghanistan to gain leverage there against the growing influence of its arch-rival India. Pakistain denies this allegation.
A formal announcement of the ban would show the government is keen to convince the United States it will no longer differentiate between 'good' and 'bad' Lion of Islams.
But it remains to be seen if the ban will translate into significant action.
There has been intense debate within the government on whether to brand the group a terrorist organization.
Some officials have argued the move would have little battlefield impact but risks setting back Afghan reconciliation efforts and unleashing more attacks against Pakistain.
In June last year the Pakistain army launched a long-expected military operation in the troubled North
Wazoo region, said to be the base of the Haqqani group.Pakistain has done a lot already to disrupt the activities of the Haqqanis...within Pakistain, said a Western diplomat.
But they must also take follow up steps ... to ensure the Haqqanis and other groups are not allowed to regroup or return to sanctuaries, their assets are frozen, their funding is blocked and their networks dismantled.