Pakistan tells powers to stop demanding more

By Robert Birsel

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's military issued a blunt call on Tuesday for outside powers to stop demanding it do more and prove its sincerity in the campaign against militancy as the U.S. regional military chief visited.

Pakistan has been a close ally in U.S.-led efforts against terrorism since the September 11 attacks on the United States although it has never been able to dispel suspicion in some quarters that it had maintained links to some militants.

Such suspicion has been renewed by Indian accusations that some Pakistani state agencies were linked to November's militant attacks on Mumbai.

Western powers have not supported those Indian accusations, although they often call on Pakistan to do more in fighting Taliban and al Qaeda militants, especially those on the Afghan border in northwest Pakistan.

The chief of the Pakistani armed forces, General Tariq Majid, bemoaned "repetitive rhetoric by some of the external players asking Pakistan to do more and prove sincerity."

"Such unhelpful statements must stop," Majid said.

He did not refer to any country or to U.S. Central Command chief General David Petraeus, who arrived in Pakistan earlier for talks with government and military leaders.

British Defence Secretary John Hutton was also in Pakistan this week. Britain has the second largest contingent of soldiers in Afghanistan, behind the United States, and is also worried about militant infiltration from Pakistan.