Gulf Arab countries should help Pakistan and Yemen bolster security in the face of rising militant violence that could spread their way, the European Union's anti-terrorism chief said on Monday.
Gulf authorities should also tighten controls on possible transfers of funds to militant groups through Pakistani and Yemeni expatriates living in the oil-exporting region, Gilles de Kerchove told Reuters.
"It's a question of knowing if we can together work with Gulf countries to try and avoiding Pakistan and Yemen becoming what we commonly call 'failed states' and gradually safe havens for al Qaeda organisations," he said on the sidelines of a conference on terror financing.
"We are witnessing a regionalisation of al Qaeda, in North Africa, Iraq and the Arabian peninsula," he said, referring to various groups using al Qaeda's name. "It's urgent that we help Pakistan and Yemen strengthen their anti-terrorism apparatus."
Al Qaeda's Taliban allies have used their base in ethnic Pashtun tribal areas along the Afghan-Pakistani border to take more territory inside Pakistan, a nuclear-armed state which Western powers and their regional allies fear is collapsing.
Yemen is battling a new wave of al Qaeda attacks over the past year as well as secessionist sentiment in the south which led to clashes this week that provoked a rare call by the United States for the parties to act to keep Yemen united.
Sanaa also faces a Zaydi Shi'ite rebellion in the north and rebellious tribes who reject central authority, forming fertile ground for militant groups to operate.
Neighbouring Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, has said it fears instability in Yemen could allow it to become a launchpad for a revival of a 2003-2006 campaign by al Qaeda militants to topple the U.S.-allied ruling Al Saud family.
De Kerchove said Gulf countries needed to do more to combat money laundering that could benefit militants.
As of June 2007, travellers to and from Saudi Arabia are required to declare cash amounts, transferable monetary instruments or precious metals exceeding $16,000.
"There is a difference between fixing a threshold and checking that this system works," he said. "Is everyone who leaves Saudi Arabia checked? But it's good to have a law."
He said Saudi Arabia should tighten control along its long and porous border with Yemen, as well as offer Pakistan financial support to train its police force in counter-insurgency methods.
Western governments have praised Riyadh for its work in snuffing out the al Qaeda insurgency.
"Much of the anti-terrorism campaign has been led by the Pakistani army, an army that has not be adequately trained to deal with an insurgency," he said. "In Yemen, there is a huge amount of work to be done (and) a weakening state apparatus."
Even as New Delhi expressed concern over their well-being, Pakistani Sikhs have said that the majority Muslims are also a target of the Taliban, and the issue is a "national" problem rather than a "communal" one. This follows reports that that the Taliban were displacing Sikhs and levying special taxes (jaziya) on them in Pakistan's northwest region.
"Eh maslaa sirf Sikhaan da nahin ae. Suba sarhad tay FATA wich musalmaan, jo ki aksariyat wich nay, ohna naal wi Taliban tushaddat kar rahey ney. (This is not a Sikh issue. The majority Muslims living in NWFP and FATA are also being tortured by the Taliban)," said Bishen Singh, the president of the Pakistan Sikh Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee.
Speaking to The Indian Express over the phone from Lahore, Singh added: "Please don't make it a political and international issue that only Sikhs are being targeted in Pakistan. That is completely untrue. The Muslims of the Taliban-infested areas are worse off than us and other minorities like the Hindus and Christians there. To tell the truth, we are safer than them because the Taliban know that our families have been living in the north for at least 300 years, so they are soft on us. They asked for the jaziya money and we paid them, whereas the Muslims are abducted and held to ransom. If the ransom is not paid, they are killed. Waheguru is kind that no Sikh was even touched while hundreds of Muslims have been killed."
Over 100 families are reported to have fled the region in the last fortnight. Pakistan's Evacuee Property Trust Board has launched relief operations, making living arrangements in prominent gurdwaras of the country.