Calling the Lahore attack as a ‘very eerie replica’ of the Mumbai terror strike, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that Pakistan is facing "very serious" internal threats.
Clinton's assessment of the security situation in Pakistan was also shared by Britain whose Foreign Secretary David Miliband said that country is facing a "mortal threat" from its internal enemies, and security is worsening there, Mrs. Clinton also said that Pakistan and Afghanistan should be seen as a single strategic concern.
"The tragic events the other day in Lahore with the attack on the Sri Lanka cricket team, which was a very eerie replica of the attack in Mumbai demonstrate the ongoing threats that Pakistan faces," Clinton told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of NATO Foreign ministers in Brussels.
Clinton said it is becoming obvious that Pakistan faces "very serious internal threats" and that Afghanistan faces continuing external threats that emanate out of Pakistan. US' chief diplomat also touched upon the security situation in Pakistan in her address at the NATO meet.
"We must recognise that one, tiny remote corner of the world--the borders of Pakistan-- is the nerve centre for extremists who planned 911, the bombings in Madrid and London, the assassination of (former Pakistan prime minister ) Benazir Bhutto and the recent carnage in Mumbai," she told the meeting.
"They are planning similar attacks right now," Mrs. Clinton said.