Zardari says he was target in Marriott hotel terror attack

Washington, Oct 1 (PTI) Pakistan President Asif Ali
Zardari has said that he and the country's other top leaders
were the actual targets in the recent suicide bomb attack on
the five-star Marriott Hotel in Islamabad that left at least
53 people dead and scores injured.

"... I was supposed to be there with my Prime Minister,
with my Speaker, with a lot of us. Just by chance that it was
changed," he said in an interview with 'Fox News' when asked
if he believed that he was the target in the deadly September
20 bombing.

"All of us, all the Parliament, the people, all of
democracy was the target. We were all supposed to be there,
because it was a Speakers' dinner. We were sitting in a
Speakers' dinner just a stone's throw away from that same
place. We were in the P.M. house on the lawn when we heard the
bang," Zardari said.

The Pakistani leader also brushed off the notion that
Islamabad's relations with Washington was the reason for the
bomb attack. "No, I don't think so. I think that is just an
excuse to give themselves importance and to say -- bring some
legitimacy to the war that they are fighting.

"When they say that they are targeting America, if they
would have said they were targeting us, obviously the people
turn against them, because we have populist people. So they
can't say us, they have to say we managed to get 150 foreign
citizens, which is not a fact at all. There were no marines in
there," Zardari said.

The Taliban is the "enemy" of Pakistan, Zardari said.
"Yes. Why would they take out the Marriott hotel if they
weren't?... They're my enemies that killed my wife (Benazir
Bhutto), the mother of my children. They're the enemies of
democracy, and they're the enemies of Pakistan."

Zardari also said the operations of American special
forces inside Pakistan were not going off well with the people
of his country and that these kinds of actions only give a
setback to the impetus for the war on terror.

"It wasn't received well, and it doesn't help the war on
terror, because the first definition, the way we want to deal
with the war is to win the hearts and minds of people, and
then get the people on your side, alienate them from the
terrorists, rather than give them support," Zardari said.

"It sets me back in getting my impetus of the new way of
dealing with the war. And the new way of dealing with the war
is to get the people involved, to make them to realise that
making their area unsafe and allowing them to be there is a
danger to themselves," he said.

Zardari said he only discussed the issue "generally" with
U.S. President George W. Bush during their recent meeting in
New York.

"Not specifically, but we discussed it generally. And he
agreed with it himself. He said it himself that he believes in
the sovereignty of Pakistan and the sovereign state has a
right. So I didn't need to discuss. He was already aware of
the issue....

"Cross-border fightings can happen, friendly fire can
happen. Even in an exercise you have casualties of friendly
fire. So one or two incidents or accidents can happen,"
Zardari said, making the point that it is "not" a big deal as
journalists have made it out to be.

"As the journalists make it sound -- no, it's not... I am
disturbed in the sense that I would appreciate it if it
doesn't happen," he said.