‘Haqqani ban under consideration’

WASHINGTON: A formal announcement on outlawing the Haqqani militant network it still under consideration, Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States said on Tuesday.Pakistani officials said in January that Islamabad had decided to outlaw the militant group and that a formal announcement would come “within weeks. “These are the kind of issues that are in the works, I would say,” Jalil Abbas Jilani said at a Washington media roundtable organised by the Christian Science Monitor newspaper, when asked on a timeline for a formal announcement on the subject.
US officials have blamed high-profile attacks in Afghanistan on the Haqqani network, which allegedly operates from Pakistan’s border areas. The envoy’s comments come after the head of Afghanistan’s power-sharing government last week backed a tentative push to begin peace talks with Taliban insurgents.
Jilani told reporters that as US troops were withdrawn from Afghanistan’s eastern border, they had seen increased militant activity, adding that a slower drawdown “would be viewed very positively in Pakistan.” He added that Pakistan has had to depute more soldiers on its Western border, boosting numbers from 145,000 to nearly 177,000 in a bid to control cross-border militancy. This has meant fewer troops were available for carrying out an offensive in North Waziristan.
Jilani said the Pakistani government is considering hosting a regional conference on tackling radical influences as part of US President Obama’s global initiative on countering violent extremism.