news details |
|
|
| India not a "threat" to Pakistan: Zardari | | | AGENCIES
Washington, May 10- In a rare admission and for the first time, the Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said India is not a "threat" to his country, hours after he confirmed that Islamabad had moved some of its forces from its eastern border to eliminate Taliban in its tribal belt.
"Well, I am already on record. I have never considered India a threat," Zardari said in an interview.
This is for the first time a top Pakistani leader has publicly said that India is not a threat to the country, a fact which Obama Administration has been trying to convince Zardari and the Pakistan Army for quite some time now.
"I have always considered India a neighbour, which we want to improve our relationship with. We have had some cold times and we have had some hard times with them. We have gone to war thrice, but democracies are always trying to improve relationships," Zardari said while responding to a question about "which is being the greatest threat to Pakistan-- India or the militants?"
Last month, at a White House press conference held on the occasion of his 100 days in office, Obama had said that confronted with the Taliban offensive, Pakistan is beginning to recognize that viewing India as a "mortal threat" is misguided and that its biggest threat came internally.
It is believed that both Obama and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in their meetings with Zardari here this week impressed upon him that Pakistan should no longer consider India as a primary threat and rather concentrate its energies on fighting terrorism inside the country.
However, there has been no official word from the Obama Administration in this regard so far after the meetings.
While responding the question about moving troops from Indian border to the tribal areas of Pakistan to fight the war against terror, Zardari said: "Pakistan has already done so."
In a media interview on Friday, Zardari had said Pakistan has already moved troops from the Indian border and would do more based on the requirement.
"The fact is that we have moved more troops today and yesterday and the day before. We moved them according to the requirement” Zardari added.
"We already have 125,000 personnel there. So when we need to replace them, we need to improve upon their strength, we do that," Zardari said in response to a question.
The US has been pressing Pakistan to step up its offensive against the Taliban but Islamabad has been reluctant to move troops from the eastern border as it considers India as its main threat.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
