Pakistan 'petri dish' of int'l terrorism: Zardari

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is now the 'petri dish of international terrorism', ruling PPP Chairman Asif Ali Zardari has said blaming the West which "used" the country for its short-term political objectives by investing more in its military rather than its people.
      
Pakistan is now the "petri dish of international terrorism" and this is "a product of failed international politics and not our creation", Zardari said in his keynote address at the Socialist International Congress at Athens in Greece.
      
Vowing to root out extremism, Zardari, whose Pakistan People's Party-led alliance came to power after the February 18 elections, declared that madrassas which will not conform to a national curriculum, will be shut down.
      
"We were exploited under colonialism, manipulated as a tool of Cold War intrigue, made into surrogates for a war against the Soviets in Afghanistan, and when that war was won, Pakistan and the country we liberated were abandoned to the forces of extremism and fanaticism," he said in his speech on Tuesday.
       
The world community has paid a "terrible price" for using Pakistan for its short-term political objectives, Zardari said while calling for an international effort to rebuild the economies and infrastructure of the region to eradicate terrorism.
       
Pakistan could still be converted into a successful model of modernity for 1.3 billion Muslims worldwide and the help of the international community is needed for this, he remarked.
      
"We can't do it alone. We need the help of the world," he said. "If we succeed, we will contain extremism and terrorism. But if we fail, the world will fail with us."
     
Pointing out that new political madrassas and radical mosques emerged every month in Pakistan's tribal and frontier areas and in Afghanistan, Zardari asked: "Has the UN or the US or the United Kingdom contributed one cent to the victims of terrorism in our land?"
      
He urged the world community to convene a South and Central Asia regional conference to coordinate a multi-faceted international programme to not only contain terrorism militarily but to choke "the social and economic oxygen of the fire of terrorism by rebuilding the economies and infrastructure of our region".
      
"A prosperous Pakistan will smash the remnants of terrorism from our frontiers better than the bullets, missiles and tanks of the superpowers," he said.
     
Pleading for the socio-economic development of Pakistan, he said this will ensure the stability of the country and the entire world.
     
Pakistan stood against terrorism "not as a surrogate but as a partner to the civilised world because we are fighting for the very soul of Pakistan," he said.
     
Pakistan had suffered more victims of terrorism than any nation on earth, including the US on 9/11, he noted.
     
For the people of Pakistan to have confidence and hope in their future, he said, it is imperative to address their long neglected social, economic and infrastructure needs.
     
"We will restore law and order to our land and attack fanaticism and terrorism wherever it rears its ugly head," he added.
     
Zardari said the Pakistan government plans to bring about the economic, political and social transformation of the tribal areas  the hotbed of terrorist activity  and integrate these areas into the mainstream of Pakistani society.