New Delhi - Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari said Saturday that he did not subscribe to nuclear weapons and favoured a South Asia non-nuclear treaty. Zardari was responding to a question via video-conferencing at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in New Delhi.
Nuclear-capable neighbours India and Pakistan have fought three wars since their independence from British colonial rule in 1947, two of them over the disputed Kashmir region.
Kashmir has often been described as a nuclear flashpoint which needs resolution.
Asked why Pakistan did not say it would not use nuclear weapons first, Zardari replied "We will most certainly not use it first. I don't agree...to nuclear weapons. I hope we never get to that position."
On Kashmir, he said Indian and Pakistani people needed to force their politicians to come together for a dialogue and "decide" so they could do justice to the people of Kashmir.
Asked who he felt Kashmir belonged to today, Zardari diplomatically replied: "To the Kashmiri people."
The world, the Pakistani leader said in his opening remarks, was in turmoil and there were many challenges to be faced. "Join us, help us to end this mindset that keeps us away," he said adding that India and Pakistan had a great future together.
He said the countries should open remove trade barriers and operate as one economically like the European Union.
"Ever Pakistani has a little Indian in him, every Indian has a little Pakistan," Zardari said as he urged India and Pakistan to work together.
