KABUL, July 16: The European Union is putting pressure on Pakistan to help curb militant violence in Afghanistan ahead of parliamentary polls in September, EU lawmakers said on Saturday. The comments by a panel of touring EU parliamentarians came amid rising guerrilla violence in Afghanistan which has seen dozens killed in the run up to the Sept 18 polls.

Taliban guerrillas and their militant allies, including Al Qaeda, are opposed to the elections, and Afghan officials and the US-led military force fear the insurgents will launch more attacks.

“I believe the enemies of democracy in the country want to use now their last moment to interfere,” Elmar Brok, head of the European Parliament panel on foreign relations, told a news conference at the end of a three-day visit to Afghanistan.

“They know that the president is democratically elected and if there is a democratically elected parliament, they have lost their case,” he said.

“We will ask the neighbours of Afghanistan to play their role to make it for the insurgents difficult to cause any problems,” Mr Brok said.

He said he had held talks with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and had been assured of Islamabad’s cooperation in cracking down on militants who operate in areas to the south and east of Afghanistan, bordering Pakistan.

Earlier this month, a Pakistani army commander said 4,000 more troops were being deployed on the Afghan-Pakistan border, joining 70,000 already there, to seal the frontier and ensure security for the Afghan polls.

Mr Brok’s comments came a day after Taliban guerrillas hanged a pro-government tribal chief in the troubled southern province of Zabul, accusing him of being an American spy.

Malik Agha’s killing was the fifth in the past six weeks and highlighted risks faced by supporters of President Hamid Karzai’s West-backed government.

Asked if the Afghan elections would be free and fair, Mr Brok replied: “I believe so ... it will be successful……The people are fed up. They want to live peacefully.” —-Reuters