It seems that what was being suspected all along may just be true after all:. Senior naval officials have admitted before the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Defence that the devastating attack on the PNS Mehran in Karachi was made possible only because the terrorists had inside help. Although this admission really does not come as much of a surprise, to hear it straight from the horse’s mouth has made it all the more real and terrifying. It is imperative now that our counter-terrorism efforts include plugging the leaks and gaps in our armed forces that make such infiltration possible. The malaise of extremism has reached such a pitch now that even the protectors of our country’s borders and shores have not been able to protect themselves from it. Higher ups in the security establishment must realise now that we cannot fight these terrorists with one hand tied behind our backs — we must clean our ranks of all elements sympathetic to the militant cause. Meanwhile, further indications of the deteriorating Pak-US relationship, after the May 2 incident, are being seen. Pakistan’s Defence Minister, Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, has announced that the Americans have been told to leave the Shamsi drone airbase. He said that only joint sittings and decisions could now bridge the trust deficit that has emerged between Pakistan and the US. It is still unclear whether Shamsi airbase was being used merely for monitoring militant movements and intelligence or it was actually being used as a base for drone strikes. However, after the loud claims of ‘sovereignty’ made by the government while quietly bending over backwards to the US’s demands, this comes as a welcome move to restore some confidence in the government and the armed forces. Surreptitious concessions and arrangements should not have been there in the first place. The Musharraf regime made many tactical and diplomatic blunders in its time. It helped give rise to the tide of extremism by allowing the drone attacks in the first place as well as unaccounted for numbers of CIA agents. It seems that now we may just be trying to base the Pak-US relationship on mutual interests rather than compromising our own interests. *