Zardari backtracks on ‘terrorists in J&K’ remark

The President’s remarks challenged the very basic policy on which Pakistan’s Armed Forces have become an all pervading institution in the country. The comments marked a radical change from Pakistan’s stated position and was the first by a top leader of the country.

Former premier Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N was among the parties which had slammed the President for his remarks in an interview to the Wall Street Journal. The statement was welcomed by India as a good step.

Sherry Rehman said Pakistan was committed to the Kashmiri people’s right for self-determination.

The President, she said, had “made it very clear that the just cause of Kashmir and its struggle for self-determination has been a consistent central position of the (ruling) Pakistan People’s Party for the last 40 years”.

“There has been no change in this policy,” Rehman said.

“The President has never called the legitimate struggle of Kashmiris an expression of terrorism, nor has he downplayed the sufferings of the Kashmiris. All his statements on India should be viewed in the context of Pakistan’s current bilateral relations with that country,” she added.

PML-N, which is the main Opposition party, on Sunday took strong exception to Zardari’s description of militant groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir as terrorists and said it would raise the issue in parliament. Zardari’s statement was also criticised by hardline religious groups.

Bomber kills 23

In a sudden upsurge in militant attacks, at least 23 people were killed and 60 injured on Monday as a suspected suicide bomber struck at the home of a prominent PML(N) parliamentarian in Pakistan’s heartland of Punjab province.

The bomber blew himself up at the residence of PML(N) leader Rasheed Akbar Nawani, a prominent politician of Bhakkar district and a member of the National Assembly, almost destroying his home and shaking the entire area. Nawani was injured in the attack and rushed to a hospital, where channels said his condition was serious.