WASHINGTON, Jan 3: The United States should consider suspending financial aid to Pakistan's internal security forces because of their failure to respect human rights, a leading US think-tank said in a report on Wednesday.

The RAND Corp. study evaluated US assistance to security forces in Afghanistan, El Salvador, Uzbekistan and Pakistan since the attacks of Sept 11, 2001, examining whether police performance improved as well as human rights practices.

“The United States should significantly restructure or even withdraw its assistance to repressive regimes if their internal security agencies fail to improve transparency, human rights practices and overall effectiveness,” said Seth Jones, one of the lead authors of the study.

In repressive climates, “cooperation might continue, but assistance to law-enforcement agencies should stop,” Jones said. And “this option should be considered in Pakistan,” the think-tank said in a statement.—AFP