Pak Nurtured Terrorism : Zardari

In an astonishingly candid admission – a first by any Pakistani head of state – president Asif Ali Zardari has admitted millitants & terrorists were wilfully created by past Pakistani governments & nurtured as a policy to achieve tactical objectives.“ Millitants & extrimists emerged on the national scene & challenged the state not because the civil bureaucracy was weakend & demoralized but because they were deliberately created & nurtured as a policy to achieve short-term tactical objectives. Let’s be truthful & make a candid admission of the reality,” he told a gathering of civil servants in Islamabad on Tuesday night.“The terrorists of today were heroes of yesteryear untill 9/11 occurred & they began to haunt us as well,” Zardari said. He also pointedely said that future generations won’t fogive the current leadership if it does not take corrective measures.India has long charged Pakistan with sponsoring terrorism in Kashmir by provideing arms, ammunition & training to militants who have been engaged in a war of secession. Zardari’s admission is bound to create a major flutter in Islamabed, particularly within the Army.“ Pakistan is a frontline state in the war against terror & we have pledged to eliminate this courage. I have taken charge of the country at a difficult time & will meet the challenges facing the country,” he said.Criticising former millitary rulers – itself an act of derring-do-Zardari said concentration of power in one individual was against the spirit of democracy & good governance. “ Too much power in one hand lasts for a short time, “ he said. “ For power to be effectively used for a long lasting public good, it must be dispersed as widely as possible.”