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| India-Pakistan |
| I will expose Benazir's killers: Zardari |
| 2008-12-28 |
| President Asif Ali Zardari said on Saturday he knew the killers of Benazir Bhutto and that he would expose them. He was addressing Pakistan People's Party leaders who had gathered at Benazir's family home in Naudero to honour her on her first death anniversary. "I will expose the killers of Benazir Bhutto. I know the killers, I will expose the killers to save the country," Zardari said. He appreciated a statement by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that the world body would soon initiate an independent inquiry into Benazir's assassination. "We will have to wait for UN even if it takes a long time," he said, adding the 'enemies of Pakistan' were being impatient and provoking people. "They are the same people who had raised the slogan Pakistan Na Khapay (Pakistan not needed) in Garhi Khuda Bukhsh." He said the Pakistani people and the parliament knew Benazir had been assassinated in an attempt to disintegrate Pakistan, but vowed his government would keep it united. He also vowed the national and provincial assemblies would complete their five-year tenure, and asked his opponents not to disrupt democracy. "Do not disrupt democracy, because it will hurt Pakistan," Zardari said, asking the opposition to "bear with us". The president urged the parties who boycotted the elections and were now sitting outside the parliament "venting their sentiments in television programmes", to let the ruling coalition make decisions. The assemblies, he said, were the true representatives of the people of Pakistan and had the right to make decisions on their behalf. Regarding rising tensions with India following last month's terrorist attacks in Mumbai, the president said Pakistan would act to rein in extremist groups but warned New Delhi not to dictate the terms of such action. "We shall do it because we need it, not because you want it," Zardari said. He said war was not the solution to the region's problems and pleaded for dialogue. "The solution to the problem of the region... is politics, is dialogue and is democracy in Pakistan," an emotional Zardari said. "Allow us the freedom of democracy, allow us the freedom of choice, allow us the freedom of opportunity. We will choose our own time," he said. "I want to tell the oldest democracy and the largest democracies of this world -- listen to us, learn from us," he said in an apparent reference to India. "We have lost our people -- we do not talk about war, we do not talk about vengeance," the president said. "Dialogue is our biggest arsenal." Zardari praised US president-elect Barack Obama for his vision of a regional cure to terrorism. "I commend the new thought that is emanating from the next government in the USA for a regional cure to this cancer." "We have non-state actors. Yes, they are forcing an agenda on us," Zardari said, but added: "We will cure it, we will solve it, we will correct it," he said. "We will be accountable to ourselves. We will fight our own wars." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 I will expose Benazir's killers: Zardari Because...I'm BATMAN! |
| Posted by: tu3031 2008-12-28 22:12 |