US warns Pak over NY car bomb plot
PTI
WASHINGTON, MAY 8
As a team of FBI officials landed in Islamabad to probe any possible Pakistani links to the failed Times Square bombing case, the US today warned Pakistan that it will face “very severe consequences” if any terror plot was traced to that country.
“We’ve made it very clear that if, heaven-forbid, an attack like this that we can trace back to Pakistan were to have been successful, there would be very severe consequences,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the CBS news channel in an interview that is scheduled to be aired tomorrow.
Clinton said that US expects more cooperation in fighting terror from the Pakistan government and warned there could be repercussion if any future successful terror attacks in America were linked to Pakistan.
The Secretary of State said Pakistan’s attitude toward fighting Islamic terrorists has changed remarkably.
“We’ve gotten more cooperation and it’s been a real sea change in the commitment we’ve seen from the Pakistan Government. (But) We want more. We expect more,” she said.
Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake told PTI that Pakistan needs to expand its operation against Punjab-based terrorist outfits including Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammed.
Though both these terrorist groups are mainly operating against India, there has been increasing evidences of LeT and JeM now targeting against the US.
Such a statement coming from the top US official is a marked change in their statements since the post-Times Square bomb incident in New York City last Saturday, as it has so far been defending Pakistan for its action against terrorism.
