Zardari for fresh dialogue after Indian elections

Observing that no democratic government has ever gone to war with India, the visiting Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has said he is waiting for the Indian elections to be over later this month to start a fresh peace dialogue with New Delhi. "I'm waiting for the (Indian general) elections to be over so that all of this rhetoric is over and I can start a fresh dialogue with the Indian government," Mr. Zardari told the CNN in an interview on Tuesday. Mr. Zardari arrived in Washington on Monday to participate in a trilateral summit with the Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the US President Barack Obama on Wednesday. The trilateral meetings would continue on Thursday as well. "Democracies have never gone to war. No Pakistan democratic government has gone to war with India. We've always wanted peace. We still want peace with India. We want a commercial relationship with them," Mr. Zardari said. "I'm looking at the markets of India for the industrialists of Pakistan and hoping to do the same," Mr. Zardari said. Mr. Zardari was responding to a question from the CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer about the recent statement of the US President that "obsession with India as the mortal threat to Pakistan" been misguided.

ePaper - Nawaiwaqt