By Arun Kumar
Washington, Dec 4 (IANS) Pakistan has been slowly convinced that it has to take action against terrorists within its own territory, though it still considers India as its number one enemy, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has told lawmakers.

“We’re dealing with a sovereign country that has a very clear idea of who they think their overall enemy is, namely India, but who has slowly been convinced, because of what’s happened inside their own territory, that they have to take action,” she told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Thursday.

“The US has clearly told Pakistan that there can be no distinction between terrorists,” Clinton said.

“I think that that will continue to lead to positive steps,” she said in response to a question at a hearing on Afghanistan.

“We are now making the case to our counterparts in Pakistan, both in the civilian and the military leadership, that the efforts they have made against the TTP (Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan), primarily in Swat and now in Waziristan and the Mehsud tribal core, are necessary,” Clinton said.

“…but far from sufficient efforts to protect themselves; that this syndicate, this network of terrorism, has to be addressed, that whatever the utility of any of these groups might have been in the past, they have morphed into a form that poses a threat to the Pakistani government.”

Responding to a question from Senator Richard Lugar, top Republican on the Committee, she said: “This is an argument that I think takes time to make. It is certainly an argument each of us, plus others, have carried repeatedly, and will continue to do so. But there is a great gulf of mistrust.”

The international community also needs to be wary that Al Qaeda is seeking access to nuclear weapons, she said referring to the case of Najibullah Zazi, an Afghan accused of planning to detonate a bomb in New York around the anniversary of the 2001 terror attacks.

“There is no doubt in any of our minds that Al Qaeda seeks nuclear material, seeks access to nuclear weapons,” Clinton said, noting: “The recent arrests here in our own country trace back to Pakistan and trace back certainly in the case of Zazi, directly to an Al Qaeda-originated training camp and training programme.”

“But finally and perhaps most chillingly the fact that Pakistan is a nuclear power raises the stakes enormously,” she said.

“The case for action against Al Qaeda and its allies has always been clear. But the United States’ course of action over the last eight years has not. The fog of another war obscured our focus,” Clinton said.

“And while our attention was focussed elsewhere, the Taliban regained momentum in Afghanistan and the extremist threat grew in Pakistan — a country, as you know well, with 175 million people, a nuclear arsenal, and more than its share of challenges,” she said.