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February 03, 2009
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Tuesday
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Safar 07, 1430
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Militancy to be eradicated, Zardari tells US lawmakers
By Syed Irfan Raza
ISLAMABAD, Feb 2: President Asif Ali Zardari said on Monday that terrorists would not be allowed to hold the country hostage and the government was determined to root out militancy.
During a meeting with a US congressional delegation, the president expressed the hope that the Obama administration would help Pakistan in the war on terror and make policies on the basis of ground realities.
Mr Zardari assured the congressmen that Pakistan would do its best to bring the people involved in the Mumbai attacks to justice.
Sources close to the presidency said the government would share the report of its investigation with India in a couple of days.
The US delegation comprised John F. Tierney, George Miller, Chris Van Hollen, Chris Welch, Christopher Murphy and Ron Kind.
Adviser to the PM on Interior Rehman Malik, Adviser on Finance Shaukat Tarin, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Malik Ammad Khan and US Ambassador Anne W. Patterson also attended the meeting.
The congressmen were told that the US needed to stop drone attacks in tribal areas because the missile strikes had weakened the government’s strategy in the war on terror.
The US delegation also called on Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.
During the meeting, the Pakistani side called for closer cooperation for promoting peace, security and progress in the region and expressed the hope that Pakistan-US relations would move in a positive direction and the two countries would work together for a regional approach to the problem of terrorism and extremism.
It stressed the need for a strategy focussed on development issues which, they said, would lead to socio-economic prosperity of the people of the region.
The US congressmen expressed the desire to work with Pakistan in all areas covering security and economic growth. They assured the Pakistani side that they would work for early passage of a legislation for setting up the Reconstruction Opportunity Zones.
According to media reports, the US congressmen also met Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan and discussed lawyers’ long march to be held on March 9.
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