During the third and final debate in US presidential debate, the moderator posed a stunning question to both the candidates: “Is it time for us to divorce Pakistan?” Republican presidential candidate, Gov.

Romney was prompt and clear in his response, saying, “No, the US can’t divorce a nation on earth that has 100 nuclear weapons and is on the way to double that at some point, a nation that has serious threats from terrorist groups within its soil.” President Obama nodded in consent to what Mitt said about Pakistan.

The US may not be in a position to divorce Pakistan for sake of its own interests but the question is whether Pakistan is ready to divorce the terrorist groups freely operating from its soil?

A country that has lost 40,000 civilians and military personnel at the hands of militants in last 10 years still seems to be not serious on ways to handle this menace. Americans may not be ready to divorce us for the safety of our Pakistani nuclear arsenal but we Pakistanis have to divorce the mindset and inadvertent support to militants. — Masood Khan, Jubail