Zardari for pact with India to question terror suspects

ISLAMABAD (Agencies) - President Asif Ali Zardari has made an urgent appeal to India not to punish his country for the terror unleashed on Mumbai last week, warning that militants had the power to precipitate a war in the region.
The President warned against escalating tensions between the two countries said any confrontation would be disastrous for the war on terror as this would sap his nation’s effort against militants on its Afghan border.
As the government in New Delhi faced mounting domestic recriminations after the three-day terrorist rampage in Mumbai, Zardari urged Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to resist striking out at his government should investigations show that Pakistan-based militant groups were responsible for the attacks.
Speaking exclusively to the Financial Times, President Zardari warned that provocation by rogue “non-state actors” posed the danger of a return to war between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
Zardari also urged India not to punish his country.
“Even if the militants are linked to Lashkar-i-Taiba, who do you think we are fighting?” asked Zardari, whose country is battling Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants on its shared border with Afghanistan.
“We live in troubled times where non-state actors have taken us to war before, whether it is the case of those who perpetrated [the] 9/11 [attacks on the US] or contributed to the escalation of the situation in Iraq,” said Zardari.
“Now, events in Mumbai tell us that there are ongoing efforts to carry out copycat attacks by militants. We must all stand together to fight out this menace.”