'US must declare Pakistan a terrorist state;

Arguing that Islamabad is using terrorism as a tool for its foreign policy, especially against India, an Indian-American group on Wednesday asked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to declare Pakistan as a terrorist States and seize all its nuclear weapons.

'Instead of penalising Pakistan for its support to the notorious terrorists and spreading global terrorism, US, unfortunately, is rewarding this country with the deadly weapons and billions of dollars of hard cash,' Narayan Kataria, head of New York-based Indian American Intellectual Forum, said in a letter to Clinton.

Similar letters have also been written to several influential lawmakers.

'We should recognise in unambiguous terms that Pakistan is the root cause of terror and instability in that region. In order to win the war in Afghanistan it is essential that American war strategy should be focused on Pakistan. In the next 18 months, American troops will be leaving Af-Pak region,' Kataria said.

The letter said, Indian American Intellectual Forum believe that it is inappropriate for the US to prop up Pakistan and balance its strategic partnership with India by selling deadly F-16 to Pakistan Air Force together with other advanced weapons and avionics for air-to-air combat that appear to us unnecessary for counter-insurgency operations in mountainous area against Taliban.

'This is being done in spite of the admission by General (Pervez) Musharraf that Pakistan is modifying the arms, which are meant to fight the terrorists, for use against India,' the letter said.

'Intelligence inputs received by Indian officials indicate that Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Tayiba has acquired as many as 50 para-gliding equipments from China for the potential use to launch suicide attacks in India. This, obviously, could not be accomplished without Pakistan's active connivance, complicity and tactical support,' it said.