Asif Ali Zardari speaks at Capitol Hill in Washington. Seen along with him is Hamid Karzai. AP/PTI
From Press Trust of India:
STAFF REPORTER 14:7 HRS IST
Rezaul H Laskar
Islamabad, Jul 8 (PTI) For the first time, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari admitted that militants and extremists were “created and nurtured” in the country as a policy to achieve some short-term tactical objectives.
But they began to haunt the country in the post-9/11 era, Zardari said in a candid admission during an interactive meeting with former senior civil servants at the presidency last night.
Militants and extremists emerged on the national scene and challenged the state not because the civil bureaucracy was weakened and demoralised, but because they “were deliberately created and nurtured as a policy to achieve some short-term tactical objectives,” he said.
“Let us be truthful to ourselves and make a candid admission of the realities,” Zardari said.
“The terrorists of today were the heroes of yesteryears until 9/11 occurred and they began to haunt us as well,” he added.
