100,000 sign petition to declare Pakistan a terror state

Risingbd Desk: A petition on the official website of the White House to declare Pakistan as a state sponsor has managed to reach its goal of 100,000 signatures in a week.

Created on Wednesday (September 21), just days after the terror attack on an army base in Uri (Jammu and Kashmir), the petition garnered close to 123,000 signatures by afternoon of Tuesday next.

The petition urges US administration to declare Pakistan as a state sponsor of terrorism because "it is important to the people of United State of America, India and many other countries which are continuously affected by Pakistan sponsored terrorism." While the cutoff to reach goal of 100,000 signatures was four weeks, this petition reached the mark in a week, making it one of the most popular petitions on the website.

The White House website allows for netizens to create petitions on a range of issues, and promises to provide an official update if 100,000 signatures are received in four weeks. It would now be interesting to see what the official response would be on declaring Pakistan as a terrorist state - a move already initiated by two US lawmakers in the US Congress.

Last week, a bill was moved by Republican Ted Poe and Democrat Dana Rohrabacher, who is a ranking member of the influential Congressional Committee on Terrorism. "It is time we stopped paying Pakistan for its betrayal and designate it for what it is: a state sponsor of terrorism," Poe, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Terrorism, had said.

Source: Agencies

Risingbd/Sept 27, 2016/Mukul