Pakistan has no alternative but to finish militancy: Zardari

Pakistan has no alternative but to finish militancy: Zardari
Dawn, Sunday, 21 Jun, 2009

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan must conduct the ongoing operation against militancy to its logical conclusion as it has no alternative but to finish militants, says President Asif Ali Zardari.

‘We must succeed against the militants for the sake of our country and our people,’ he said in an article sent to newspapers to mark the 56th birth anniversary of assassinated PPP leader Benazir Bhutto being celebrated on Sunday.

‘On her birthday I wish to assert that there simply is no other alternative. The absence of alternatives has made our mind clear,’ he wrote.

PPP workers will celebrate the occasion by donating blood for the needy in memory of what the president called ‘her mission to end militancy from the country which has caused so much innocent blood to flow and tarnished the image of Islam and Pakistan in the world.’

He said her life was spent in a brave struggle against oppression and dictatorship and ultimately ended (by her assassination on Dec 27, 2007) when she stood up and refused to be cowed down by the threats of the terrorists. ‘It was a life worth living and celebrating’.

The president said Ms Bhutto believed that dictatorship, along with poverty and ignorance, bred extremism, militancy and violence which, if not checked could destabilize the country.

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