November 17, 2008	Monday	Ziqa'ad 18, 1429

WASHINGTON, Nov 16: President Asif Ali Zardari has voiced the hope that President-elect Barack Obama’s administration in the US will recognise Islamabad’s key anti-terror role and understand the fact that Pakistan has been a victim of terrorism.

“We think we need a new dialogue and we’re hoping that the new (US) government will… understand that Pakistan has done more than they recognise” and it was a victim of the same insurgency the United States was fighting, he said in an interview with the Washington Post published on Sunday.

President Zardari expressed his disapproval of US drone attacks on Pakistani areas along the Afghan border and urged Washington to instead provide the Predator technology to Pakistan to enhance its ability to fight terrorism.

Rather than using Predator to fire missiles against Pakistani territory, why not give Pakistan its own Predators? “Give them to us… we are your allies,” he said.

He said such unilateral strikes harmed efforts to win hearts and minds of the people. The US should equip Pakistan with advanced weapons to help its forces fight terrorists more effectively.

President Zardari said Pakistan received “no prior notice” of the air strikes and he disapproved of them.

“If the casualties are women and children, the sensitivity of its effect increases,” he said.

He said the US “point of view” was that the attacks were good for everybody, while “our point of view is that it is not good for our position of winning the hearts and minds of people”.—APP