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Zardari calls for change in US anti-terror policy

AFP, Quetta
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari called for a US change of policy and voiced opposition to missile strikes, as President Barack Obama was to unveil yesterday a new strategy' against al-Qaeda.
’As far as the question of policy is concerned we have to wait and see that what is the new policy of (the) Obama government towards Baluchistan and this region." Zardari told a news conference in English.
He was speaking during a visit to Quetta, the capital of southwestern Baluchistan province, which borders Afghanistan and Iran and where an American UN official was kidnapped last month.
Obama was Friday to announce a new strategy to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat" al-Qaeda in safe havens in .Afghanistan and Pakistan and deploy an extra 4,000 military trainers.
US missile strikes anger many across nuclear anned Pakistan and the govern-
ment has warned that they risk a domestic backlash in a country where more than 1,600 people have died in extremist bombings in less than two years.
The New York Times reported last week that Obama and his top aides arc consid ering expanding covert operations against Taliban leaders to Baluchistan.
We hope that Obama is a name for a change and in this change a new policy, a new approach can be adopted to the issues of this region, because this is a regional issue," Zardari said.
"As far as the drone attacks are concerned it is the stated policy of Pakistan government that we are against them," he said.
"We find them counterproductive and we do not encourage this exercise. “
Zardari said Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and the foreign ministry were in constant contact with the United States and other countries about missile strikes and the "war on terror".
"Several meetings and exchanges of ideas have taken place." he added.
Some US officials fear that strikes in Baluchistan could increase tensions with Pakistan, which said in late February it wanted to discuss ending controversial US drone attacks inside its territory, the New York limes said.
More than 35 such strikes have killed more than 340 people since August 2008, shortly before Zardari was elected. A suspected US strike Wednesday killed up to seven alleged militants in a Taliban stronghold.
The US military as a rule does not confinn drone attacks but the armed forces and the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operating in neighbouring Afghanistan are the only forces that deploy the aircraft in the region.
In February, John Solecki, a US citizen and the local head of the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), was kidnapped in Quetta. Baluch rebels claim to be holding him.
"As far as the disappearance of the UN gentleman is concerned it is an ongoing process," Zardari said.