Zardari sues for peace, says "stateless actors" involved in Mumbai attack [SOMEONE'S WORRIED!]

WASHINGTON: In an interview clearly aimed at soothing India’s anger and presenting his bonafides as a peace-maker ranged against domestic rogue elements, Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari has renewed his pledge of no-first use of nuclear weapons. He has also blamed the Mumbai carnage on non-state actors, while implicating his own intelligence agency in past acts of terrorism.

Zardari appeared on CNN’s Larry King Live on Tuesday night for an interview meant ostensibly to reassure India and the world that he and his civilian government was not part or privy to the terror attack on Mumbai, and they wanted peace with India. He insisted the terror attack was the work of "stateless actors who are holding hostage the whole world."

"So we should all rise above it. I expect the Indian democracy which is senior, which is an older democracy, mature democracy, I expect them to rise above this pain and the loss that they have had and come together with us to fight terrorism in the region," Zardari said.

But the Pakistani president fudged his way through several pointed questions. Despite the growing body of evidence that the Mumbai carnage was planned in Pakistan by the ISI-backed Lashkar-e-Taiba and details provided by the lone captured terrorist about his family, hometown etc in Pakistan, Zardari doubted if he is a Pakistani.

"We have not been giving any tangible proof to say that he is definitely a Pakistani. I very much doubt, Larry, that he's a Pakistani," he said. His statement echoed his predecessor Pervez Musharraf’s denials of Pakistani participation during the Kargil infiltration in 1999 which resulted in Pakistan not accepting the bodies of its own soldiers killed in the conflict.

But Zardari’s denial seemed pro-forma (the interview appeared to have been taped before Indian and U.S officials confirmed the Pakistani plot based on the confession of the captured terrorist and electronic evidence). In fact, he roundly implicated Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI for past misdemeanors.

Asked what his government was doing about the Pakistani intelligence apparatus support for militant movements in the past, Zardari responded: "In the past, lots of mistakes have been made, I cannot deny that. But the present government does not support any such action and the -- I can assure the world from my side, from my Army’s side, from my parliament’s side and the people of Pakistan that we are not helping any such activity."

Zardari also avoided answering a question about whether he had respect for and confidence in his intelligence agency, indicating, or intending to indicate, a schism between him and the ISI, and possibly the Pakistani military, which controls the intelligence agency.

Asked specifically about the LeT, Zardari said it a banned organization all around the world and "if indeed they are involved (in the Mumbai carnage), we would not know. Again, they are people who operate outside the system."

Despite reports in the Pakistani media about state patronage to LeT leaders (the government recently helped its leader Hafiz Mohammed Saeed to a bulletproof LandRover SUV), Zardari insisted "they operate like -- al Qaida, for instance, is not state-oriented."

Zardari also waffled his way past a question about India’s demand for handing over 20 terrorists living in Pakistan, saying he was "definitely going to look into all the possibility of any proof that is given to us."

"At the moment these are just names of individuals. No proof, no investigation, nothing has been brought to forward," he said. Some of the names in the Indian list, notably Dawood Ibrahim, are Indian nationals convicted in Indian courts. Ibrahim lives in the same neighborhood in Karachi (Clifton) where Zardari has a home, according to past reports in the Pakistani media.

Asked if he would turn over the fugitives (including Indian nationals) if India provided the proof, Zardari fudged again just like his predecessor, saying, "If we had the proof, we would try them in our courts, we would try them in our land and we would sentence them." Accounts in the Pakistani media reveal many of the fugitives and outlaws live under ISI protection and patronage.

I wouldn't recommend nuking India, that's not what I said. My point was that the Indians and Pakistanis more or less deserve each other, and if the two countries have nukes and want to toss them at each other, well, its understandable that one might react -- initially -- by thinking they might be doing the rest of the world a favor.

On the more serious note, I regard Pakistan's possession of nuclear weapons as particularly dangerous, given the radical moslem nature of much of the country, and think the entire world would be a safer place if someone (US?) removed those nuclear weapons and destroyed permanently Pakistan's capacity to produce any more nuclear weapons. Just as I think the world would be a safer place if someone (US? Israel?) permanently destroyed Iran's capacity to produce nuclear weapons.

“the Indians and Pakistanis more or less deserve each other”

I totally agree with that. (the uncensored version)

check this out. http://whatreallyhappened.com/content/2-us-spies-killed-intaj-hotel

Dude,I don’t have time to play around with words. If a government knows that there is an armed extremist group on its territory plotting attacks on anyone and doesn’t act against it,that’s abetting an attack. Plain and simple.There are numerous such groups in Pakistan. Some in the (rather) lawless tribal regions near Afghanistan-your point would be valid with them. But not with ones like LeT and JEM.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.