Pak will not use nuclear weapons against India first: Zardari

New Delhi, Nov 22 (PTI) Pakistan President Asif Ali
Zardari Saturday declared that his country will not be the
first to use nuclear weapons against India and would work
towards opening trade, besides underscoring that Kashmir
belonged to the Kashmiri people.

He also said that Pakistan does not feel threatened by
India and New Delhi should also not feel threatened by
Islamabad.

Addressing the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit via
satellite, Zardari said that he was against nuclear warfare
altogether.

"We do not hope to even get to that position when we have
to use (nuclear weapons)," he said and proposed a South Asia
free of nuclear weapons.

Seeking to reach out to people across the border, he
recalled his late wife Benazir Bhutto's lines -- "there is
little of Indian in every Pakistani and a little of Pakistani
in every Indian."

Zardari also favoured India and Pakistan rising as an
"economic block" like greater Europe.

On the Indo-Pak trade not being in "full swing", Zardari
said he himself was looking for a time-frame for it and mooted
opening the movie industry first.

Remembering his late wife, he said "spiritually, I feel
her to be around all the time" and that she guided not only
him but others as well.

Zardari said that borders be made accessible and favoured
issuance of 'e-cards' which could be swiped at the border to
enter each other's territory.

"The PPP government had long followed a hands-off policy
towards India and it will continue," he told a questioner who
sought to know whether India could expect peaceful elections
in Jammu and Kashmir in the remaining phases.

On participating in anti-piracy operations alongside
India, Zardari said Pakistan was a "small country" and would
join with the "little bit" if asked for.

On the financial crisis in Pakistan, he admitted that the
country was going through "troubling times" and has approached
the International Monetary Fund for help.