News

US paper says Pakistan to talk with extremists

NEW YORK: A US newspaper claimed that Pakistan’s new coalition government wants to negotiate with the militants believed to be orchestrating the attacks, and will use military force only as a last resort. Speaking in separate interviews, the leaders of Pakistan’s new government coalition Asif Ali Zardari of the Pakistan Peoples Party and Nawaz Sharif, head of the Pakistan Muslim League-N tried to strike a more independent stance from Washington and repackage the conflict in a more palatable way for Pakistanis, New York Times said in a report. Many Pakistanis, however, are convinced that the surge in suicide bombings 17 in the first 10 weeks of 2008 is retaliation for three US Predator strikes since the beginning of the year. “We are dealing with our own people,” said Mr. Sharif, who was twice prime minister in the 1990s. “We will deal with them very sensibly. And when you have a problem in your own family, you don’t kill your own family. You sit and talk. After all, Britain also got the solution of the problem of Ireland. So what’s the harm in conducting negotiations?” Mr. Zardari said: “Obviously what they have been doing for the last eight years has not been working. Even a fool knows that.”

Courtesy Geo

 

Back to Top