Bhutto's widower says West supported military not Pakistani people

Jul 1, 2008, 15:49 GMT

Islamabad - The widower of slain ex-premier Benazir Bhutto on Tuesday blasted on the West, saying it had always invested in Pakistan's military and arms but not in its people, with the result of a rise of Islamic militancy and terrorism.

'We were exploited under (British) colonialism, manipulated as a tool of Cold War intrigue, made into surrogates for a war against the Soviets in Afghanistan,' he said in his key note address at the Socialist International Congress in Athens.

According to a press statement issued by Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), which is lead by Zardari now, he said when the war against Soviet Union was won, 'Pakistan and the country we liberated were abandoned to the forces of extremism and fanaticism.'

US and other western countries supported Islamic Jihad resistance against Soviet Union in 1980s. Millions of dollars were provided to set up Islamic seminaries in the border areas along Afghanistan to recruit and prepare people for Holy War against the Russian invaders.

The Kremlin retreated in late 1980s but the seminaries kept on producing holy warriors, which were the main forces behind Taliban movement in Afghanistan in mid 1990s and lately in Pakistan.

Zardari said that Pakistan was now the Petrie dish of international terrorism that was a product of failed international politics and not its own creation.

PPP formed the new, coalition government together with the allies, who jointly defeated the political backers of President Pervez Musharraf, a key US ally in the fight against terrorism.

The new government revised Musharraf's 'hard-handed' policies against pro-Taliban militants active in restive tribal areas and parts of neighbouring North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), and offered them peace talks.

The move raised concerns in Washington and other NATO countries who said the peace agreements Taliban elements would only give them opportunity to regroup and launch with attacks with more forces from tribal belt on international forces in Afghanistan as well as Pakistani security forces.

But the government led by Zardari's party says that a comprehensive strategy is required to quell terrorism. It includes socio-economic development as well as limited and targeted use of force.

In his Athens address, Zardari urged the world to convene a South and Central Asia Regional Conference to coordinate a multi-faceted international program to not only contain terrorism militarily but also to 'choke off the social and economic oxygen of the fire of terrorism by rebuilding the economies and infrastructure of our region,' according to the statement.

A prosperous Pakistan will smash the remnants of terrorism from our frontiers better than the bullets, missiles and tanks of the super-powers, he added.

His statement came as Pakistani security forces were carrying out a small-scale operation against the Islamic militants who were infiltrating from tribal district of Khyber Agency into Peshawar, the capital of NWFP.

During the operation, which was launched on Saturday and continued on Tuesday, 10 militant hide-outs and an FM radio station used for propaganda were destroyed. Government forces faced little resistance from the rebels.