US sets stage for strikes on camps

WASHINGTON: The US has set the stage for punitive internationally-backed strikes by India against terrorist camps in Pakistan, if Islamabad does not act first to dismantle them, by rejecting President Asif Ali Zardari���s alibi that non-state actors were responsible for last week���s carnage in Mumbai.

The game-changer , outlined by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, among others , robs Islamabad of the fig leaf that Zardari used in his interview on Larry King Live that ������ stateless actors��� ��� are holding the whole world hostage and Pakistan was not to blame. Rice said in effect that the excuse does not absolve Pakistan of responsibility for terrorist acts that originate from its territory.

In Washington, experts pressed the administration to expand the scope of punitive strikes to an international level to avoid making it an India-Pakistan issue, particularly since the death toll included citizens of 10 countries.
������ Rather than simply begging the Indians to show restraint , a better option could be to internationalize the response .

Have the international community declare that parts of Pakistan have become ungovernable and a menace to international security ,������ Robert Kagan, an influential analyst with the Carnegie Endowment, said.

������ Would such an action (strikes) violate Pakistan���s sovereignty?������ Kagan asked in an op-ed , and answered, ���Yes, but nations should not be able to claim sovereign rights when they cannot control territory from which terrorist attacks are launched.������

Rice echoed this outlook more discreetly and cautiously . Pakistan���s civilian government has sought to portray its helplessness in governing its own territory.