Zardari: India destabilising the region

President Asif Ali Zardari has urged United States of America to scrutinise Indian role in the region and must acknowledge that it has from time to time played a destabilising role in the South Asia. Linking the Kashmir problem with the Middle East conflict, the president also asked the US to demonstrate "neutrality" and step up efforts to mediate on the issue between India and Pakistan. In an op-ed article "How to Mend Fences With Pakistan" in New York Times, the president also charged India of playing destabilising role in the region and said that the perceived "rhetorical" one-sided American policy often fuels conspiracy theories in Pakistan.  "Public mistrust of the United States also stems from regional issues, specifically policies concerning India. I know it is the conventional wisdom in Washington that my nation is obsessed with India," he wrote. "But even to those of us who are striving toward accommodation and peace, the long history and the unresolved situation in Kashmir give Pakistanis reason to be concerned about our neighbour to the east." Just as the Israeli-Palestinian dispute cannot be resolved without accommodating the Palestinian people, "there cannot be permanent regional peace in South Asia without addressing Kashmir," Zardari said.  President also called for allies' help not only in the war on terror, but also in building a new "economically viable and socially robust" Pakistan. "We are not looking for, and indeed reject, dependency.  We don't need or want (nor would we accept) foreign troops to defeat the insurgency, and we seek trade more than aid from you in the future," he said. "It is an economically viable and socially robust democratic Pakistan that will be the most effective long-term weapon against terrorism, extremism and fanaticism," he said. "This is the necessary endgame. And this is how history will judge victory," he added. The president outlined the elected government's agenda and its accomplishments as also the progress made by military in combating the militants. - Online