ISLAMABAD, Oct 25: Prolonged US bombardment on Afghanistan will inflame the situation in Pakistan and may lead to fragmentation of the country, former national assembly speaker Ilahi Bakhsh Soomro told Dawn here on Thursday.

Mr Soomro, who is also the rector of Ghulam Ishaque Khan Institute of Technology, said people were demanding an immediate end to the bombings in Afghanistan. He said though President Gen Pervez Musharraf did the right thing earlier by siding with the international coalition, he should also keep in view the changing attitudes of the people about the continuing US strikes.

Referring to the current international focus on Pakistan, he said: “Only two months ago we were being neglected, now every country wants our friendship.”

However, he expressed the apprehension that the Americans would again forget Pakistan the moment their interest in the region was over, in the same way as they did after the withdrawal of the Soviets from Afghanistan.

He said the Afghans were stubborn and interpreted Shariat in the light of their own customs and traditions which did not strictly conform to Islam.

“The tragic side of the situation is that an Afghan will do just as he likes, and no outsider can persuade him to act against his will”, Mr Soomro said.

About the situation in Jacobabad, he said, though the airport was barricaded and fenced with barbed wires, it was not very difficult to notice the American planes landing and taking off from the airport.

“I have myself seen American C-130 aircraft, fitted with guns, the one used for strafing, taking off from the Jacobabad airport”, he added. Mr Soomro said the C-130 that Pakistan had was a propeller aircraft while the one being used by the US had jet engines.

About Nazims, he said, they were unable to control the situation like the deputy commissioners who had complete grip over the situation.