Posted on 05/23/2002 3:04:49 PM PDT by Dog Gone
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- The U.S. ambassador to Pakistan on Thursday predicted another terrorist attack in the country, saying President Pervez Musharraf has ``stirred up a hornet's nest'' with his crackdown on Islamic extremists.
Since Musharraf banned five radical Islamic groups in January, there have been three attacks on foreigners, all blamed on Muslim militants.
``I expect there will be another attack here,'' Ambassador Wendy Chamberlin said in an interview with The Associated Press a week before ending her assignment in Pakistan.
She noted that two of the attacks -- one in the heavily defended capital of Islamabad and the other against French engineers working for Pakistan's navy -- were a direct assault on Musharraf's authority.
Four people, including two Americans, were killed in a grenade attack March 17 on a Christian church frequented by foreigners.
A suicide bombing on May 8 killed 14 people, including 11 French engineers helping Pakistan build an Agosta submarine. One of the dead was a Pakistan navy officer assigned to protect the French engineers.
Militants with links to the al-Qaida terror network also are blamed for the kidnapping on Jan. 23 of American Daniel Pearl, the South Asia bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal, who was later killed.
The threat of more attacks has others worried.
Britain on Wednesday recalled some of its diplomats from Pakistan and urged its citizens to avoid traveling to the country, citing terrorist threats made against two British consulates. The Australian government also urged its citizens to leave Pakistan.
The United States scaled back its diplomatic presence after the church attack.
Chamberlin, who took up her post last August, is returning to the United States for family reasons.
Musharraf's support for the U.S.-led military campaign in Afghanistan enraged many in predominantly Muslim Pakistan. But Chamberlin said Pakistan's assistance in tracking down al-Qaida and Taliban fugitives has been unfailing.
``Pakistan has no interest in having uncontrollable al-Qaida on their soil. They are making extra effort to stop that,'' she said.
Concerning the rising tensions between India and Pakistan over the disputed region of Kashmir, she said the situation is ``very serious.''
``We are very concerned about the threat of war,'' Chamberlin said.
But she refused to say whether the United States believes Musharraf is doing enough to crack down on groups opposed to India's rule over part of Kashmir.
Washington's concerns over Pakistan's role in the Kashmiri insurgency are part of ``our private dialogue,'' she said.
India says Pakistan-based groups are behind the separatist attacks in Kashmir that have brought the two nuclear neighbors to the brink of war.
A million troops, along with tanks and heavy guns, are on alert along the frontier and Pakistan is considering sending more, including some of the troops helping U.S. special operatives hunt for al-Qaida and Taliban fugitives.
Pakistan has said it needs international help to get India to the negotiating table. India says it won't talk until Pakistan ends its help for insurgents.
Chamberlin said Secretary of State Colin Powell is on the phone regularly with leaders of both countries, urging negotiations without preconditions. Powell is sending his deputy, Richard Armitage, to the region early next month to try to defuse tensions.
Pakistan says the Kashmiri insurgency is a ``freedom struggle'' and gives moral and diplomatic support to its cause.
``There is no clear firewall between terrorists and freedom fighters,'' Chamberlin said.
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