Thaindian News

Washington, Mar 6(ANI): President Asif Ali Zardari has said if Pakistan and the United States are to work together against terrorism, both nations must avoid “political incidents” like the Raymond Davis case.

“The Raymond Davis incident in Lahore, which directly resulted in the deaths of three Pakistani men and the suicide of a Pakistani woman, is a prime example of the unanticipated consequences of problematic behaviour,” Zardari wrote in The Washington Post.

“We need not go into the legal, moral and political intricacies of this case. Suffice it to say that the actions of Davis and others like him inflame passions in our country and undermine respect and support for the United States among our people. We are committed to peaceful adjudication of the Davis case in accordance with the law,” he added.

Zardari warned that it was in no one’s interest to allow the sensitive Davis issue to be manipulated and exploited to weaken the Pakistan Government and further damage the US image in the country, where anti-American sentiments run high.

“Similarly counterproductive are threats to apply sanctions to Pakistan over the Davis affair by cutting off Kerry-Lugar development funds that were designed to build infrastructure, strengthen education and create jobs,” he added.

Zardari said it is a threat “written out of the playbook of America’s enemies,” whose only result will be to undermine US strategic interests in South and Central Asia.

“In an incendiary environment, hot rhetoric and dysfunctional warnings can start fires that will be difficult to extinguish,” he added.

Zardari emphasized that Pakistan, which is pressed by overlapping threats, knows its numerous challenges and seeks the trust and confidence of its international allies, “who sometimes lose patience and pile pressure on those of us who are already on the front lines of what is undeniably a long war.”

“Our concern that we avoid steps that inadvertently help the fanatics is misinterpreted abroad as inaction or even cowardice,” he said in an apparent reference to the Pakistan Government’s failure to release Davis from detention on diplomatic immunity grounds despite repeated US requests. (ANI)