London, July 6 (ANI): Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, who has the backing of top military commanders for his goodwill gestures towards India, has said that the army is united in dealing with the threat emanating from militants and are no more worried about the Indian threat.

In Pakistan civil leaders always operate in the shadow of the military, but Zardari appears to have backing of the army high command for some controversial stances, a report in The Telegraph states.

Gestures of goodwill towards India allied to a campaign to end militant influence have attracted criticism, but for the moment his opponents are at bay, it adds.

“It rankles the small mind. It does not rankle the army, because after India and Pakistan became nuclear powers, that position of being able to take over another state is nullified,” the paper quoted Zardari, as saying.

Earlier, Zardari gained important support when Pakistan’s Army Chief General Ashfaq Kiyani said that the “immediate internal threat” of Taliban militancy was greater than any “external threat”.

Zardari has also breached the strong desire within the Pakistani establishment for a religious-based government in Afghanistan that would be hostile to India and the West.

In recent months, he has been one of the few Pakistani leaders to befriend Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai. “Karzai and myself are friends. Our military chiefs have met, our intelligence chiefs have met,” he said. (ANI)