President Asif Ali Zardari has voiced full confidence in the stability of Pakistans present democratic set-up, saying neither the government nor Parliament were in any danger.The 18th Amendment to the Constitution is a reflection of the great maturity, I feel, democratic forces in Pakistan have achieved, he said when asked during an interview with Newsweek whether the government was in danger of falling. I think all the political forces sitting today in Parliament have reinvented ourselves, the president observed during the wide-ranging interview published in the US weekly magazines latest issue. With obviously his peace overture towards India in mind, President Zardari said he was disenchanted with New Delhis attitude. I expected the largest democracy in the world to behave much more maturely, he said while responding to a question about progress on Pakistans request for the extradition of Ajmal Kasab, the sole surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai attacks. This new-age terror has created a phenomenon where a few people can take entire states to war, he went on to say. The fact that these people happen to belong to Pakistan or India or Bangladesh is immaterial. They are non-state actors, and states should behave like states. Asked whether he had become a hawk on India, the president said, I am a liberal by nature and democrat by principles. War is never an option, as far as Im concerned. President Zardari said that US-Pakistan cooperation was satisfactory. There was no US pressure on Pakistan against pursuing economic relations with Iran.We are looking forward to trading with all our neighbours. Nobody can put pressure on Pakistan for anything. We do what is in Pakistans interest, he added. On calls for military action in North Waziristan, the president said Pakistan would follow its own game plan. We are fighting to save Pakistan, he added. At the same time, he remarked, We had like to know who is financing the Afghan Taliban, and whos financing the Pakistani Taliban. We havent got any closer to knowing that. About Faisal Shahzad, the suspect in the failed Times Square bombing, he underlined the fact that the Pakistan-born man was a US citizen. There is no cure for badness. But the cooperation with the US is good. About his diplomatic successes, Zardari said, I think weve created an appetite in the world to look at the case of Pakistan from our eyes. Hence the locally evolved IMF package, extended aid to Pakistan, and new strategic dialogue with the US because weve managed to, I think, have these diplomatic successes, weve created a new vision of Pakistan as far as other countries are concerned. But, he said, the press still remains cynical.
