September 05, 2008	Friday	Ramazan 04, 1429

ISLAMABAD, Sept 4: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari has urged the government to plan a special fund for the victims of terrorism across the country.

“Our nation is the biggest target of global terrorist forces,” Mr Zardari said in a meeting with a group of reporters in Islamabad, says a handout issued by the PPP Media Office here on Thursday.

“It is unfortunate that the debate on global terrorism repeatedly stresses Pakistans position in the fight but conveniently ignores the victims who are ruthlessly targeted by terrorists to assert the supremacy of their cause, he said, adding that such an approach is costly because it contributes to the divide between “our victims” and “their victims”.

The PPP co-chairman said the fight against terrorism was Pakistans fight and “those victimised by the terrorist agenda are our responsibility as they are our citizens”.

Mr Zardari requested the government to set up special funds for their rehabilitation and for addressing the problems of the victims of terrorists’ activities. “The funds will allow financial space to the aggrieved families to move on with their lives. This will also go a long way in preventing our children from falling into the trap of the terrorist propaganda as they seek to recruit manpower to implement their agenda,” he added.

Mr Zardari stressed that there should be no question about the ownership of the ongoing war against terrorism. “In the past, public discomfort with owning the efforts against terrorism stemmed from lack of legitimacy associated with the previous regime. While the regime perpetuated its rule by selling to the international community our public’s divided opinion on the war, its half-hearted attempts at fighting the battle prolonged the conflict and compromised the security of our people,” he said.

The PPP leader said the policy of projecting it as the West’s war was a disservice to the nation. “This is not the West’s war, it is our war. It is our forces that are engaged in the military battle, and it is our people who are being blown up by the suicide bombers,” he said.

Mr Zardari, who is also the presidential candidate, said the PPP-led coalition government’s stand on terrorism represented the unanimous consensus of the nation against the forces that stood for violence. He said late Benazir Bhutto identified extremism and terrorism as the biggest threat to the nation and she returned to the country last year to steer the nation out of challenges brought upon the nation by a decade of non-democratic rule.

By voting for democratic forces in the February 18 elections, he said, the general public pledged an overwhelming support to the PPP’s position. Therefore, he said, all political forces had an obligation to take a joint stand against the issue and safeguard public interest.

“We must protect out children’s future and guide them into vocations and professions that empower them more than weapons and terror. A victim’s fund will work to alleviate the misery and desperation that breeds in areas where people are made terror targets,” he opined.