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| Pak needs 'cultural change' to view that India is not enemy:US |
| Press Trust of India / Washington Apr 29, 2009, 09:54 IST |
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Describing Pakistan as "badly fractured country", US Vice President Joe Biden has said that Islamabad needs a "cultural change" to view that India is not its enemy.
"This is a badly fractured country...That in one sense has made great strides," Biden said at a fund raiser meeting in Houston in response to a question.
Known as authority on Pakistan and Afghanistan because of his long stint in Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Biden said that Pakistan needs to move away from its India-enemy mentality.
Given the animosity the Pakistan establishment has against India, the Vice President felt it would require a cultural change to have them think otherwise.
"There's got to be an overall culturally difficult thing to happen, a realization that India is not the enemy... it is FATA, it's (Baitullah) Mehsud, it's the al-Qaeda influence, it's the Taliban," he said.
Democratic election, Biden said provided "peaceful transition" from military leadership and proved the strength of a middle class and that a new government was not founded on religious tenets.
"But two things have happened in my sense, a loss of confidence on the part of the Pakistani military as well as the Pakistani political leadership," Biden said according to a pool report provided by the White House.
"There is a need for much better governance," Biden said.
Highly critical of the peace deal with the Taliban in Swat Valley, Biden said Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari "made a deal for Shariah to become the law of the region" even though the last general election reinforcement the idea of a non-religious government.
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