Give up obsession with India, Obama to tell Zardari

05 May,2009 11:15 AM IST |   |  Agencies

US President Barack Obama is expected to press Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari again to give up its obsession with India as its main threat and instead focus on the armed threat from militant extremists.


US President Barack Obama is expected to press Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari again to give up its obsession with India as its main threat and instead focus on the armed threat from militant extremists.

"I think he will reiterate what he said to you guys last week," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters yesterday when asked if Obama would tell Zardari when he meets him Wednesday that "there's no threat from India".

"I think the President spoke pretty clearly to this last week in underscoring where the threat lies in Pakistan and where it doesn't," he said referring to Obama's remarks at a press conference last week on his 100th day in office.

Obama suggested last week that one could "see some recognition just in the last few days" on the part of the Pakistani military "that the obsession with India as the mortal threat to Pakistan has been misguided, and that their biggest threat right now comes internally".

Asked if India is going to be consulted on this and if Washington could still play a mediator between New Delhi and Islamabad on Pakistan's threat perceptions, Gibbs said: "Well, I think obviously some of those conversations are being had."

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