Asking the Obama administration to take a "very hard line" on the release of JuD chief and "mastermind of the Mumbai massacre" Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the co-architect of the US' Af-Pak strategy demanded on Friday that "jihadist Frankenstein" infrastructure in Pakistan be crushed.

"I think the Administration should take a very hard line about the release of the mastermind of the Mumbai massacre and needs to be very clear with Pakistan that it cannot pursue a policy of selective counter-terrorism," said Bruce O Riedel, a former CIA official who co-chaired the inter-agency committee which formulated the Af-Pak policy.

"Selective counter-terrorism is weak counter-terrorism. We can't tolerate terrorists, who murder in Mumbai any more than we can't tolerate terrorist who murder anywhere else in the world. Washington ought to make that position extremely clear in Islamabad," he said in an interview.

Riedel's remarks follow the Lahore High Court order releasing Saeed from house arrest on Tuesday last, nearly six months after he was detained in the wake of the Mumbai attacks.

Riedel said a very strong message" needs to be sent to the Pakistani government, army and especially its intelligence service that they should deal with terrorism firmly.

Observing that ISI continued to maintain links with LeT and JuD, he said that Pakistan was not taking enough steps to dismantle terrorist networks.

"I think, Pakistan has taken a few steps, but they are very small, and much more needs to be done. The entire infrastructure of the jihadist Frankenstein in Pakistan needs to be broken and dismantled, not just because that is in the interest of America and India, but because it is in the interest of Pakistan," Reidel said.

... contd.