The casualty figures are not final yet but the violent episode at the police academy near Lahore and the resulting loss of precious lives is another grim reminder of the cost Pakistani state is paying for participating in America's war on terror. Pakistani soldiers, police officers, faceless men from the security apparatus and our innocent civilians are dying as collateral for America's geo-political interests. The Obama Administrations' new strategy for Pakistan and Afghanistan is, in fact, based on repositioning of the western troops. By exchanging frontline positions in the war, they are making the Afghan and Pakistan armies face the brunt of the militants attack that the American troops have been facing up to now. The mantra of 'safe havens' and 'sanctuaries' in Pakistani tribal areas is aimed at shifting the theatre of war from Afghanistan to inside Pakistan. The new Obama plan is effectively a recipe of death and destruction for Pakistan and the Lahore violence is just a glimpse of what is in store for the Pakistani masses. The US was forced out of Iraq because of the beating it took there and the body bags it had to send back home which turned the US public against the Iraq war. The US justifies its involvement in Afghanistan on the pretext of keeping American lives safe. The Pakistani state on the other hand continues its participation in the war on terror even though our body count is mounting. We also continue to bomb and kill our own populace on America's behest. It is time Pakistan conducts a policy review of its own aimed at protecting the lives of its own people. I am confident, every such review is going to guide the policy makers in Islamabad to the conclusion that Pakistan needs to abandon the war on terror. Now -MOEZ MOBEEN, Islamabad, via e-mail, March 30.