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Non-state actors our responsibility: Zardari

Washington: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has accepted that non-state actors were his responsibility and said nobody would be allowed to use Pakistani soil for any form of aggression toward any friend or foe.

“Yes, definitely. I do not shrug away from that position,” he told Newsweek magazine in an interview when reminded that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had said that non-state actors on Pakistani soil were still its responsibility. “Anybody from my soil is my responsibility.”

When told that Pakistani leaders had repeatedly said they would do something about the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) that India blamed for the Mumbai terror attacks, but never actually took action, Mr. Zardari said: “That is not us.”

Asked if Pakistan was going to take any concrete steps to crack down on the LeT, Mr. Zardari said: “Things have been done. One step is we have started combing the whole region for all non-state actors and we have made certain arrests.”

Asked about Ms. Rice’s demand that Pakistan do something about the Mumbai attacks, Mr. Zardari said: “She is a friend and she knows Pakistan is a responsible state, and the Americans and the British know how much my government has done for this operation ... against the terrorists since we’ve been in government.”

“I don’t have any specific information to that effect because the Indians have given us very little information,” he said when asked about reports that all of the terrorists were trained in Pakistan.

“I have offered to the Indians that we will do a joint investigation into this Mumbai incident and if it leads anywhere, we will take action.”

On India’s demand to send it accused people to bring to justice, he said: “We don’t have that kind of relationship yet. America and Pakistan have hardly gotten to the position where we can interact and exchange information.”

Mr. Zardari said Pakistan would not send anyone to India. “No, that is a decision to be made by Parliament and not by the President.”

During a meeting with visiting U.S. Senator John Kerry on Tuesday, Mr. Zardari said the country’s intelligence agencies were under the government’s control and were focussing on counter-terrorism operations.

An official statement said Mr. Kerry called on Mr. Zardari and discussed the situation in the region. However, TV channels said Mr. Kerry informed the President of his talks with Indian leaders and said both countries should act wisely and defuse the tensions created by the Mumbai terror attacks — IANS, PTI

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