Islamabad - The widower of slain ex-premier Benazir Bhutto
on Tuesday blasted on the West, saying it had always invested in
Pakistan's military and arms but not in its people, with the result
of a rise of Islamic militancy and terrorism.
'We were exploited under (British) colonialism, manipulated as a
tool of Cold War intrigue, made into surrogates for a war against the
Soviets in Afghanistan,' he said in his key note address at the
Socialist International Congress in Athens.
According to a press statement issued by Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples
Party (PPP), which is lead by Zardari now, he said when the war
against Soviet Union was won, 'Pakistan and the country we liberated
were abandoned to the forces of extremism and fanaticism.'
US and other western countries supported Islamic Jihad resistance
against Soviet Union in 1980s. Millions of dollars were provided to
set up Islamic seminaries in the border areas along Afghanistan to
recruit and prepare people for Holy War against the Russian invaders.
The Kremlin retreated in late 1980s but the seminaries kept on
producing holy warriors, which were the main forces behind Taliban
movement in Afghanistan in mid 1990s and lately in Pakistan.
Zardari said that Pakistan was now the Petrie dish of
international terrorism that was a product of failed international
politics and not its own creation.
PPP formed the new, coalition government together with the allies,
who jointly defeated the political backers of President Pervez
Musharraf, a key US ally in the fight against terrorism.
The new government revised Musharraf's 'hard-handed' policies
against pro-Taliban militants active in restive tribal areas and
parts of neighbouring North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), and
offered them peace talks.
The move raised concerns in Washington and other NATO countries
who said the peace agreements Taliban elements would only give them
opportunity to regroup and launch with attacks with more forces from
tribal belt on international forces in Afghanistan as well as
Pakistani security forces.
But the government led by Zardari's party says that a
comprehensive strategy is required to quell terrorism. It includes
socio-economic development as well as limited and targeted use of
force.
In his Athens address, Zardari urged the world to convene a South
and Central Asia Regional Conference to coordinate a multi-faceted
international program to not only contain terrorism militarily but
also to 'choke off the social and economic oxygen of the fire of
terrorism by rebuilding the economies and infrastructure of our
region,' according to the statement.
A prosperous Pakistan will smash the remnants of terrorism from
our frontiers better than the bullets, missiles and tanks of the
super-powers, he added.
His statement came as Pakistani security forces were carrying out
a small-scale operation against the Islamic militants who were
infiltrating from tribal district of Khyber Agency into Peshawar, the
capital of NWFP.
During the operation, which was launched on Saturday and continued
on Tuesday, 10 militant hide-outs and an FM radio station used for
propaganda were destroyed. Government forces faced little resistance
from the rebels.
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