News
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Government not in danger of falling: Zardari* President tells Newsweek his govt is fighting to save Pakistan ‘with its own game plan’
* Expects India to behave maturelyDaily Times Monitor
LAHORE: All political forces sitting in parliament have reinvented themselves and there is no danger to the government or parliament at the moment, President Asif Ali Zardari said on Saturday in an interview with Newsweek.
Talking to Newsweek’s Fasih Ahmed, Zardari said, “The 18th Amendment is a reflection of the great maturity, I feel, democratic forces in Pakistan have achieved. But then, of course, we are all still politicians. I’m an optimist to the core, and I don’t think the government and parliament are in any danger.”
The president said the world should not pay “much heed to the rumor mills in Washington or Islamabad”.
He was commenting on Newsweek’s query on the intense US reaction to the attempted Times Square bombing and the fallout for Pakistan.
Game plan: To a question on the West’s demand for military action in North Waziristan, Zardari said the country was working “with its own game plan”.
“We are fighting to save Pakistan. So we’re working on it with a map in our hand. I was in the US when the Taliban took Buner [in April 2009], and the press took me to town. I told them we’ll handle it, and we did.”
Behave: When asked about the conviction of Ajmal Kasab, the sole surviving gunman in the Mumbai attacks, and the country’s demand for his extradition, the president said he “expected the largest democracy in the world to behave much more maturely”.
“The fact that these people [terrorists] happen to belong to Pakistan or India or Bangladesh is immaterial. They are non-state actors, and states should behave like states,” Zardari said.
Zardari said there was no American pressure on the country to not pursue opportunities with Iran.
“We are looking forward to trading with all our neighbors. Nobody can put pressure on Pakistan for anything,” the president said.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk