Pakistan continued to be used as base for terrorist groups in 2010: US report

Washington, August 20(ANI): Pakistan continued to be used as a base for terrorist organisations operating in the country and neighbouring Afghanistan last year, a new US report has said.

"In 2010, Pakistan continued to experience high levels of terrorism and Pakistan-based terrorist organizations continued to threaten internal, regional, and global security. Violence resulted from both political and sectarian conflicts throughout the country, with terrorist incidents occurring in every province," the State Department said in its annual report on global terrorism.

While government authorities arrested many alleged perpetrators of terrorist violence, few convictions resulted, it said, noting that a 2010 US review of Pakistan's Anti-Terrorism Court rulings revealed that the country "remained plagued an acquittal rate of approximately 75 percent."

The report also noted that while the Pakistan military continued to conduct operations in areas with known terrorist activity, it was unable to expand its operations to all areas of concern.

"Pakistan, particularly the Federally Administered Tribal Areas region and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, continued to be used as a base for terrorist organizations operating in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and Pakistani security forces undertook substantial efforts to counter these threats," the report said.

"These organizations recruited, trained, and conducted fundraising for terrorist operations in Pakistan, and used Pakistan as a transit point for cross border movement to Afghanistan and abroad," it added.

When Pakistan conducted operations to eliminate safe havens in the country, the report said, it often lacked the capability to ensure these areas remained under the control of Pakistan's security agencies.

The report also raised concern over increased sectarian violence between the Sunni and Shia communities and against religious minority communities, which resulted in numerous attacks with high casualties.

"These attacks continued the trend of employing suicide bombers and remotely detonated explosives to perpetrate violence. Attacks using similar methods were also carried out against government and police facilities," it added. (ANI)