Real threat to Pak is Taliban not India: Zardari

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari [ Images ] has said that India is no longer a military threat to Pakistan, rather it is the Taliban [ Images ] which is threatening peace in the region as well as in the whole world.

Talking to a private television channel ahead of the first summit between the European Union and Pakistan in Brussels, Zardari said both India and Pakistan do not have any ill feelings against each other, and both countries have good intentions.

'I do not consider India a military threat. The question is that India has the capability. Capability is what matters. With regard to intention, I think we both have our good intentions. India is a reality, Pakistan is a reality, but Taliban is a threat, an international threat, to our way of life,' The Daily Times quoted Zardari as saying.

Blaming former President Pervez Musharraf [ Images ] for turning a blind eye towards breeding the menace of extremism in the country, Zardari said he is monitoring the ongoing offensive against the Taliban and is focused on the problem.

'I am focused on the Taliban. It is something that has been going on for a long time and of course went unchecked under the dictatorial rule of the last president,' Zardari said.

Referring to the EU's concern over the madrassas in Pakistan's tribal areas that have been accused of imparting Talibani ideology, Zardari said Islamabad [ Images ] needed more financial support from the international community to fight the influence of the madrassas.

Commenting on Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, which is being feared to fall into the extremist hands, Zardari claimed that the country's nukes were in safe custody.

Zardari, however, rejected reports about terror training camps operating on Pakistani soil.