by Rao Bo

At a joint news conference with visiting British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Dec. 4, President Asif Ali Zardari assured Pakistan's commitment to fight against terrorism and called for more help from the international community in this regard.

Zardari's statement came amid escalating tension between Pakistan and India, which accused the gunmen who killed nearly 180 people in Mumbai came from Pakistan. Pakistan has condemned the assault, denied any involvement by state agencies and pledged to help the Indian investigation, with proof of Pakistani involvement.

While trying to mediate between the two countries, the U.S. and its western allies have pressed Pakistan to take swift action against those behind the Mumbai attacks and step up its efforts to fight terrorism.

It has been seven years since Pakistan joined the war on terror led by the United States after the Sept. 11 attacks, and Pakistan has taken on burdens that are perhaps too heavy for it to shoulder.

HEAVY LOSSES FROM GLOBAL THREAT

Zardari said at the press conference that terrorism is a threat faced by the globe and Pakistan is a victim of terrorism and has suffered heavy losses.

Statistics indicate that terrorist attacks are on the rise in Pakistan, which resulted in losses of innocent people and property, deteriorating security situation and faltering economy.

According to unofficial statistics, around 90 attacks have occurred in various parts of Pakistan till now in 2008, a sharp increase compared with 56 attacks in 2007.

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani's motorcade was attacked when they were on their way to receive Gilani on Islamabad highway on Sept. 3. A sniper opened two shots at the car and hit one side window twice.

Consequently the worsening security situation aggravated the financial crisis Pakistan is experiencing.

A report released by the Ministry of Finance in November said that Pakistan had spent over Rs 2082.942 billion (around 26.704 billion U.S. dollars) on the "war on terror" since 2004.

"The economy suffered direct and indirect losses in terms of exports, foreign investment, privatization, industrial production and tax collection because of the continuing war on terror," said the report.

Pakistan's economy is losing 6 billion dollars a year to counter terrorism while budgetary allocations for this purpose are affecting the pace of development, a leading business source said.

UNPOPULAR WAR

Zardari once confessed "it's an unpopular thing to be an American friend..." in an interview with a foreign media in October.

It has always been the mandate of the U.S. that Pakistan, as its key ally in fight against the Taliban and Al Qaida in Afghanistan, should deal with the militants with an iron fist.

The new Pakistani government, after came into being in March this year, started to negotiate with militants in the tribal areas. It was expected that the security forces and militants could cease fire and the law and order situation across the country would be improved once "peace deals" were inked.

For fear that militants might get a safe haven in Pakistan and regroup to attack the coalition forces in Afghanistan, the U.S. and NATO commanders strongly opposed the move and asked the Pakistani government to take a hard line.

Pakistan's security forces started major military operations in the second half of this year, with around 100,000 security personnel fighting with militants in the tribal areas and Swat valley in North West Frontier Province (NWFP), local reports said.

Meanwhile, the U.S. stepped up cross-border strikes on suspected targets in the tribal areas through its drones, sparking nationwide protest and criticism in Pakistan.

The angry parliament passed a resolution asking the government to protect Pakistan's sovereignty and territory integrity by stopping the attacks on Sept. 4. Nonetheless, the drone attacks did not come to a halt despite repeated protests and condemnations.

Gilani summoned an in-camera session of the parliament which lasted for 15 days to chalk out an anti-terror strategy. The parliament finally approved a 14-point resolution on Oct. 23.

According to the resolution, it was agreed that the government should revise "the methodology of combating terrorism in order to restore peace and stability to Pakistan and the region through an independent foreign policy." The resolution also said the government should stop incursions and "dialogue must now be the highest priority, as a principal instrument of conflict management and resolution."

The parliament has enough reasons to push for a shift on the anti-terror policy.

GOVERNMENT'S DILEMMA

After U.S. missile attacks on suspected militants in Pakistan's northwest near Afghanistan, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry has issued a harshly worded condemnation of the repeated strikes, warning that the U.S. missile attacks are undermining the war on terror and "helping the terrorists."

The Pakistani government has complained regularly about the strikes, criticizing as violations of the country's sovereignty. However, U.S. officials have vowed they will continue. This has raised tensions along the border between Pakistan's North Waziristan and Afghanistan, with Pakistani forces reportedly opening fire on invading U.S. helicopters on multiple occasions, and ground troops from the two nations briefly exchanging fire across the border in September.

In a related development, when security forces were focusing on raiding a banned group suspected to be linked to the Mumbai attacks, militants attacked the supply trucks for Afghanistan- based coalition forces for six times and torched more than 300 containers and oil tankers in Peshawar, capital city of NWFP.

The NWFP government has made it clear that it is short of security personnel to protect the supply line of the coalition forces.

Former President Pervez Musharraf once conceded that even if Pakistan put all its armed forces to the tribal areas, it still could not win the war on terror only by force.

However, the other side of the bitter fact is that the Pakistani government has been put on a position where there is little room for a drastic change of its anti-terror policy, analysts say.

It was only after the Sept. 11 terrorist attack that the U.S. started to consider Pakistan as an important potential ally to combat terrorism. It offered then Musharraf administration attractive financial aid in exchange of Pakistan's promise to cut its ties with Taliban government in Afghanistan and joined the anti-terror war in the region.

In the following years, the United States and its European allies lifted years-long sanctions on Pakistan, cut its debt and began to provide it with financial aid.

Pakistan's economy was deteriorating as its foreign reserves were shrinking in the third quarter of 2008. The government eventually went to the International Monetary Fund, in which the U. S. has a large stake, for a loan of 7.6 billion U.S. dollars.

Analysts point out that the anti-terror war in Pakistan is set to be an enduring one, with the possibility of negotiations with militant groups ruled out under the pressure of the hardline Bush administration.