Trying to understand
While she expressed “concern” that the Pakistani government relented to demands for sharia, State Department spokesperson Gordon Duguid made the “curious statement here that Islamic law is within the constitutional framework of Pakistan.”
“Situation in Pak is a concern: Hillary,” by Lalit Jha for the Press Trust of India, February 18:
Washington, Feb 18 (PTI) Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the entire situation in Pakistan is “a concern” and warned that extremists there posed a direct threat to the country as well as to the security of US, Afghanistan and a number of other nations in and outside the region.
Clinton was however cautious in her response to the peace deal struck by Pakistan with the Taliban agreeing to impose Islamic law in Swat valley saying Islamabad’s efforts still needed to be “thoroughly understood” before making any comments.
She said US will “thoroughly study” the deal but voiced concern over the situation in Pakistan.
“The entire situation in Pakistan is a concern,” Clinton told the ABC news in an interview, her first as the Secretary of State to a TV news channel.
“Obviously, we believe that the activity by the extremist elements in Pakistan poses a direct threat to the Government of Pakistan, as well as to the security of the United States, Afghanistan, and a number of other nations not only in the immediate region,” Clinton said, according to a State Department transcripts of her media encounter in Tokyo.
Clinton was in the Japanese capital on the first leg of her four-nation Asian tour, her first overseas trip after assuming office as the US’ top diplomat.
Clinton’s guarded reponse on the Pakistan-Taliban truce came even as State Department spokesperson Gordon Duguid came out with a curious statement here that Islamic law is within the constitutional framework of Pakistan. PTI