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Islamabad: The founder of one of Pakistan's most feared armed militant groups accused President Asif Ali Zardari of being too dovish towards India, and criticised him for referring to militants in Jammu and Kashmir as "terrorists".
Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a major terrorist group fighting in Indian Kashmir, described Zardari's comments as "a clear violation and digression from the consistent policy of Pakistan".
Although India and Pakistan have fought three wars since their partition in 1947, Zardari told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published on Saturday, that "India has never been a threat to Pakistan".
His remarks were encouraging for a peace process that has made glacial progress on core territorial disputes like Kashmir since his predecessor, General Pervez Musharraf, began talks with India nearly five years ago.
But Zardari's perception stands at odds with traditional thinking in a Pakistani military establishment that has always seen its eastern neighbour as the country's greatest threat.
Lashkar is one of the groups that analysts say the Pakistan military has used to run a proxy war in Jammu and Kashmir since the 1990s, though Pakistan has always said it only gave moral and diplomatic support for the Kashmiri freedom struggle.
Saeed, now head of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a charity regarded as a front for the Lashkar, said over the telephone from the eastern city of Lahore that he was pained by Zardari's comments.
"Pakistan has always pleaded the cause of Kashmiri people but the present elected government, particularly President Zardari, who has wrested all powers, is openly referring to freedom fighters as terrorists and talking about trade with India," Saeed said.
"It tantamounts to rubbing salt on the wounds of Kashmiris at a time when their movement has turned into a popular uprising."
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