Zardari buckles, Pak says J-K struggle no terrorism

Islamabad: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday backtracked on his remarks describing militants in Jammu and Kashmir as "terrorists" saying there is no change in Pakistan's Kashmir policy, a day after his comments triggered an outcry in his country.

The Pakistan government clarified Zardari's stand in an official statement asserting that the President has never called the legitimate struggle of Kashmiris "an expression of terrorism".

Former premier Nawaz Sharif's PML-N was among other parties which had slammed the President for his remarks in an interview to Wall Street Journal which was welcomed by India as a good step.

In the statement, Information Minister Sherry Rehman said Pakistan was committed to the Kashmiri people's right for self-determination.

The President, she said, had "made it very clear that the just cause of Kashmir and its struggle for self-determination has been a consistent central position of the (ruling) Pakistan People's Party for the last 40 years".

"There has been no change in this policy," Rehman said.

"The President has never called the legitimate struggle of Kashmiris an expression of terrorism, nor has he downplayed the sufferings of the Kashmiris. All his statements on India should be viewed in the context of Pakistan's current bilateral relations with that country," she added.

"The government is firmly committed to extending moral and diplomatic support to the just cause of Kashmiris for their right of self-determination," Rehman said.

PML-N, which is the main opposition, on Sunday took strong exception to Zardari's description of militant groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir as terrorists and said it would raise the issue in Parliament.

Zardari's statement was also criticised by hardline religious groups.

In the same interview, Zardari also said that "India has never been a threat to Pakistan".

Rehman described the ongoing Pakistan-India composite peace dialogue and several confidence-building measures as examples of the "warming bilateral relations".

"However, our efforts for peace with India will not be traded off with our principled stand on Kashmir," she said.