By KUNA,
LONDON : Pakistani President Asif AIi Zardari has called on America to provide his country with an arsenal of drones and missiles to target militants blamed for the wave of violence rather than carrying out independent operations that violate the nations sovereignty.
In an interview with the Independent newspaper Wednesday, Zardari said Pakistan had made it clear that it was willing “to take out high-value targets on our own, and we welcome the technology and intelligence assistance that will give us the ability to succeed”.
He added “I cannot condone violations of our sovereignty even when they are done by allies and friends”.
“We would much prefer that the US share its intelligence and give us the drones and millies that will allow us to take care of this problem on our own”.
For the first time he conceded more than one of the ten militants who carried out the Mumbai attacks may be Pakistani.
Zardari said “US President Barack Obama once said that he would act if we are not willing and able”.
“We certainly are willing and with international support we will become even more able”.
The President also acknowledged that more than a year after the elections, many in Pakistan are growing frustrated with a seeming lack of progress.
“After a decade of dictatorship the people had enormous expectations of rapid improvements in their lives. His is still very much our priority, but the enormity of the economic crisis both within Pakistan and internationally, compounded by the war that we fight within and along our borders, had made progress much slower than we hoped”. (end) he.bz.
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