Pakistan's Zardari not to seek another presidential term

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari says he will not seek another presidential term after his present five-year period expires in September this year, reported local media on Sunday. Zardari made the remark in an interview with local media, which will be aired late Sunday night, according to the report. Zardari's Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) faced defeat in the general elections in the center and three provinces and has formed government only in southern Sindh province. Speaking to TV anchors and newspaper editors in Islamabad, Zardari said the PPP would play a positive role in the incoming government of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The president said his party would unanimously support PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif to be elected as prime minister as was done in the case of former Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani of his Pakistan Peoples Party. Zardari said Nawaz Sharif would have to decide how to handle the cases of former military ruler General Pervez Musharraf, who has been arrested in some cases and also faces high treason proceedings in the country's top court. Musharraf has been arrested in connection with the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and keeping judges in illegal confinement when he had declared emergency rule in 2007. On U.S. drone strikes, Zardari said that he was not aware of any agreement between the government of Pakistan and the U.S. administration. "Maybe General Musharraf had made some sort of agreement with the U.S., but I am not aware of any such agreement nor I have seen it during my five-year tenure," he said. However, he said the new government will have to take policy decision on this issue, keeping in larger national interest in view. President Zardari was pleased at the first successful transition of power between democratically elected governments in the 66-year history of Pakistan, which he described as a milestone in a country with a history of military coups. Responding to the graft cases in Swiss courts against him, President Zardari said he had already spent eight years in jail and yet no charges had been proven against him. He termed the Swiss case is a controversial issue and has no substance. About talks with the Taliban militants, President Zardari said first "we should determine the groups with whom we can talk". However, he was of the view that militants never come to negotiating table.