NEW YORK, March 22: Pakistan People’s Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and Pakistan Muslim League-N chief Nawaz Sharif have said they will revisit the country’s strategy for dealing with militancy.
In separate interviews with the New York Times, the two leaders said they would adopt a more independent stance and were determined to set a different course from that of President Pervez Musharraf.
Mr Zardari stated: “Obviously what they have been doing for the last eight years has not been working. Even a fool knows that.”
The war against militants had to be redefined, he said, adding it should be dealt with through negotiations and the use of a beefed up police force rather than the army.
Mr Sharif said: “We are dealing with our own people. We will deal with them very sensibly.
“When you have a problem in your family, you don’t kill your family members, you sit and talk,” he said, adding: “After all, Britain also got the solution of the problem of Ireland. So what’s the harm in conducting negotiations?”
The New York Times reported that Pakistanis are convinced that the surge in suicide bombings is a direct retaliation of three Predator strikes since the beginning of the year.
In the past, Washington opposed negotiations between militants and the Pakistani government because it believed that short-term peace deals were proved to be a sign of weakness and provided time to militants to fortify themselves.
Though short on details, the two leaders said they were determined to set a different course from that of President Musharraf, who received generous military aid of more than $10 billion from Washington for his support to war against terror.
