Hafiz Mohammad Saeed (Reuters)
The State Department has issued its annual “Patterns of Global Terrorism” report. According to this Reuters report, it “called Pakistan one of its most important partners in the war on terrorism in a report that praised recent efforts to crack down on militants near the Afghan frontier.” The report also “referred to close cooperation between Pakistan’s military and intelligence and the United States to track down suspects at home and abroad.”
However, all is not rosy in Pakistan:
But on the same day that the US report was released, the leader of a militant group on a US-list of terrorist organisations, declared to a conference of 1,000 people in the Pakistani Kashmir capital of Muzaffarabad that the “jihad”, or holy war, in Kashmir would continue.
“The true roadmap for freedom in Kashmir is jihad,” said Hafiz Mohammad Saeed. “I am sure the jihad in Kashmir will not stop at any cost.” While Lashkar-e-Taiba’s is banned, it successor, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, is not, but it is on a Pakistani watchlist.
Analysts say militant groups have been badly weakened by the squeeze on operations and funding, but they continue to function, and well-known militant leaders remain at large.