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Statement For the first time Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has admitted that for the achievement of some short-term tactical goals terrorism was created and sponsored by the Pakistani government. Zardari gave this shocking statement during a meeting with former bureaucrats and civil servants in the President residence on Tuesday night. He also said that after 9/11 these terrorists have started to torment Pakistan like ghosts. He said that these terrorists became very strong inside the country and became a national challenge. These terrorist organizations had started to destabilize even the elected governments. This did not happen because the bureaucracy was weak or it had given up the war against terrorist but it had happened because it itself had created terrorism and had nurtured it and it was done for the achievement of some short-term goals. He said that we must speak truth and accept the reality. When the incident of 9/11 happened they started to traumatize Pakistan. He accepted that today’s terrorists were the heroes of past. Zardari said that Pakistan is in the forefront in the war against terrorism and have ‘pledged to eliminate this scourge’.  It must be learnt that a day before this statement Zardari had announced that Pakistani military will aim at those terrorists whom it had helped during the proxy war against India.

Inside Pakistan Presently, Pakistani military is carrying out operations against Taliban in the North-West Swat valley and is planning to start operations against Tehrik-e-Taliban chief Batulah Mehsood in the South Waziristan. He has also said that terrorism in Afghanistan and Pakistan is the outcome of the cold-war era. Pakistan was used against the Soviet attack of Afghanistan by USA. This war nurtured dictatorship and terrorism in Pakistan. The cold war ended but by then it had created another world problem which became very powerful in the coming years and became a global threat. Terming the present situation very dangerous, Zardari had said that Pakistan can not face any kind of confrontation and for it all the political parties should unite and follow dialogue to solve their matters. Zardari’s statement had created flutters inside Pakistani administration and has also raised eyebrows of some military generals. After it, we will see the damage control process by the Pakistani bureaucrats who will explain his statement in totally different terms.

War against Taliban India has charged Pakistan of sponsoring terrorism in India especially in northern states by providing them training and arms and ammunition. But before 9/11 western countries had never accepted that truth or we can say that western countries had always ignored this truth and had even supported Pakistan. But 9/11 has changed their approach towards terrorism. Now they have accepted that terrorism is a global threat though the reasons of its origin in different parts of the world may be different from each other. Zardari’s acknowledgement has vindicated India’s stand that most of the terrorist activities inside its territory were carried out by Pak sponsored terrorists. Indian defense minister released annual report of year 2008-09 according to which India has the clear evidence that Mumbai terrorist attack was planned inside Pakistan and was launched from the Pakistani soil and all the Mumbai attackers were Pakistani citizens. It must be learnt that India had halted dialogue process with Pakistan after this attack. Pakistani President’s statement is the clear sign that what the top Pakistani leadership thinks about terrorist and it is a clear sign of change in its thinking. War and Taliban rule of some months in some border parts of Pakistan have opened the eyes of the Taliban sympathizers. Suicide bomb blasts, killing of innocent people and migration of millions of people from the Swat valley have changed the approach of the Pakistani public towards Taliban. But the fate of the war against the Taliban will be determined by the change in the thinking of the Pakistani military and its generals.