Pak committed to act against terror: Zardari

Islamabad: Pakistan wants the early resumption of the stalled composite dialogue process with India and is committed to not allowing its soil to be used by terrorists against any country, President Asif Ali Zardari said on Sunday.

Addressing delegates of a national conference of the South Asia Free Media Association at the presidency, Zardari said Pakistan stands for peace in the region and the world.

Noting that the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks had undermined efforts for peace, he said: "Pakistan wants early resumption of the composite dialogue process with India".

Pakistan, he said, is "cooperating in unearthing and bringing to justice the perpetrators of militant acts".

He reiterated that the government will not let "Pakistani soil to be used by the terrorists against any country".

Zardari further said: "The democratic civil government went out of the way in our peace overtures towards India. It would have been most helpful if our initiatives had been welcomed and responded to in a positive manner".

Pakistan will "never allow a handful of terrorists and extremists to impose their extremist ideological agenda on the people through force," he said.

The blame game will not serve the cause of the war against militancy and the international community should understand and appreciate Pakistan's determination to fight militancy, he said.

Commenting on Pakistan's fight against militancy, he said, "From the very outset, we faced the challenge of militancy but we came out in the open against militants and took them head on".

"The undeclared policy of running with the hare and hunting with the hound was abandoned," he said.

Zardari, who spoke on the theme "setting a National Agenda on Media, Democracy and Good Governance," said the government wants to implement slain former premier Benazir Bhutto's vision of a peaceful South Asia through economic integration.

"We are for strengthening SAARC and are ready to relax tariff and non-tariff barriers on a reciprocal basis," he said.

Appreciating the decision by SAFMA and Citizens for Democracy to oppose any undemocratic and unconstitutional change in Pakistan, Zardari reiterated the commitment of his Pakistan People's Party to a "progressive, democratic and liberal polity that empowers the working people and the poor".

Zardari also spoke on domestic political issues, including the PPP-led government's "policy of reconciliation" with all political parties, including those in the opposition.

"Reconciliation is a cornerstone of the policy of the present government. We believe in reconciliation because the issues facing the country are so great and complex that no one party or institution can solve them," Zardari said.

Pakistan can "ill afford confrontational politics" and the setting up of coalition governments at the centre and in the provinces is a "measure of our policy of reconciliation," he said.

He cited the political ownership of the fight against militancy as one of the dividends of this policy.

Zardari also welcomed SAFMA's proposal to hold the third Indo-Pakistan Parliamentary Conference in Islamabad in the near future.

He recommended to the government to support SAFMA in creating a South Asian Free Media Endowment Fund.