December 14, 2008	Sunday	Zilhaj 15, 1429

WASHINGTON, Dec 13: The US State Department has said that neither the United States nor the United Nations have ever considered declaring Pakistan a terrorist state.

At a Friday afternoon briefing, spokesman Sean McCormack noted that Pakistan had banned Jamaatud Dawa because it felt it was in its interest to do so and not because it felt that the United States was about to declare it a terrorist state.

“The Pakistani defence minister has said that Pakistan had to ban the Jamaat because if that hadn’t happened it would have been branded a terrorist state. Is that the message the US has sent out?” Mr McCormack was asked.

“No,” he said. “Pakistan did this because it saw it in its interest.”

Mr McCormack said the US had always believed that terrorists in Pakistan were as much a threat to the Pakistani people and the Pakistani government as they were to anybody else.

“It’s a welcome step that they took. This is a day-by-day process and is something that requires vigilance every single day in fighting terrorism,” he added.

The journalist then referred to the UN Security Council’s decision to put four Lashkar-e-Taiba leaders on its terrorism watch list and to declare that LeT, Jamaatud Dawa and all groups associated with LeT were terrorist outfits.

“But for an international body like the UN to take this step — so was there any talk at all that Pakistan may be branded as a terrorist state?” he asked.

“No,” said Mr McCormack.