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Pakistan is a breeding ground for terrorists: US

Senior American officials have termed Pakistan a "fertile breeding ground for terrorists" with its intelligence wing supporting foreign mercenary groups active in Kashmir.

They ascribed the situation to the collapse of the country's political, social and economic structures.

"The US has had concerns about the Pakistani government, particularly their intelligence service support to groups we have designated as foreign terrorist organisations -- support for those groups that are operating in Kashmir," state department co-ordinator for counter-terrorism Michael Sheehan told the House International Committee on Wednesday.

Attributing Islamabad's failure to take on the issues of terrorism to its lack of "political space", he said this has led to the failure of its social, economic and educational systems.

Young people are turning toward madrassas (religious schools) for free education "which inculcate extremism and violent anti-Americanism in their students", Sheehan said.

"These schools, a rigid condemnation of Western culture coupled with local conditions of failed societies, produce young men inclined to support the same causes championed by Osama bin Laden and other terrorists," Sheehan said.

He added that Pakistan should channel its resources to the right sectors if it wants to move in the direction of anti-terrorism.

Deputy Assistant Secretary for South Asia Alan W Eastham told the committee that acts of terrorism in Kashmir and the cold-blooded murders of political leaders and innocents was "deliberate" and "reprehensible".

Reiterating the need for restraint in resolving the Kashmir dispute, he said all parties concerned should recognise that there is "no military solution to the problem".

PTI

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