Lahore, Dec. 23 : US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said that Pakistan must ensure that it deals with the militants harshly and bring them to justice.

Rice urged Pakistan to take every possible step inorder to tackle the problem of terrorism.

"Pakistan really has to do everything it can to bring the perpetrators to justice and then also make sure that they know as much as they possibly can, so they don't have a follow on attack or something," the Daily Times quoted Rice, as saying.

Rice said that terrorism and extremism are the biggest issues which Pakistan is facing today and it must act tough to deal with it.

"They are however really going to have to take on this issue of terrorism and extremism. They now know it will consume them if they don't, but this is a very tough problem for this civilian government," she said.

Rice claimed that extremism has deep roots in Pakistan as it goes back to the regime of Zia-ul-Haq.

She acknowledged the rise in tension between India and Pakistan after Mumbai terror attacks, but said that situation were far worse in 2001-2002 than now.

"It is a far different and better circumstance than we had in 2001 and 2002," Rice said. (ANI)