Democratic Pakistan facing pressure from terror groups, says Zardari

ISLAMABAD: Former president and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari said on Tuesday that the democratic Pakistan was confronted with pressure from terrorist groups and the US should play its role in lessening this pressure. He said that he had constituted a fact-finding committee on the PanamaLeaks issue and sought a report from it within a week.

He said the struggle between Pakistan and the United States over the funding for the purchase of F-16 fighter jets bared how far apart the two countries had gone.

“Our bilateral relationship has suffered tremendously over the last 15 years. What was once a strong partnership, allies against threats to the region from Russia and other non-state actors, has frayed and is getting weaker,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.

The former president said Pakistan had emerged in the region as a strong democratic nation focused on providing safety and prosperity to its people.

“Our nation is young and demographically we will grow tremendously over the next few decades,” he said.

Asif Ali Zardari said, “Pakistan is a growing power in the region with significant new investment coming from the east and democracy is thriving and officials in government are able to demonstrate that they can provide safety to their people. I urge the United States to look beyond its checklist of requirements for cooperation on our security needs and instead think strategically about how it can support a democratic nation under pressure from the same terror groups that threaten regional security,” he said.

The former president said no one could argue that the Pakistani people suffered from terror activities within their own borders and already this year there had been repeated attacks in Pakistan from the Taliban and al-Qaeda elements looking to disrupt the civil society.

He said the attacks at the Army Public School in Peshawar, explosion in Quetta, Bacha Khan University killing, explosions in Charsadda and recent bombing in Lahore that killed 74 and injured 338 demonstrated the dimensions of this problem.

“We are literally fighting for our lives. If there are factions in the US Congress that don’t believe we are committed to fighting terrorists, they should come to Pakistan and bear witness to the violence inflicted on our nation by them,” he added.

Asif Ali Zardari said officials from both the countries had made public statements recently that described a relationship that was dysfunctional.

He said the New York Times recently described that strategic interests between the countries were both troubling but necessary and recently the comments by the US State Department could be read as supportive of Pakistan’s need for new weapon systems to step up its fight against terror. “But the Congress and specifically Senator Bob Crocker, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, remain opposed to supporting the fighter deal,” he said.

He said this week the State Department officials from the United States would be in Pakistan for a meeting with the government leaders here. ”I hope they will take this opportunity to assure us that they remain committed to supporting our security needs,” he added.

The former president said one must only look to the example set by the United States in response to the horrible attacks in NYC at the World Trade Center in 2001 and with all their might they crushed the Taliban’s grip on Afghanistan.

“But after 15 years, the fight continues and arguably the Taliban are stronger today than they were 10 years ago. It’s only together as democratic nations we can succeed in the struggle against terror. When it comes to the safety of its people, Pakistan speaks with one unified voice. I hope the United States can find its unified voice to join ours,” he added.