Zardari links meltdown to 9/11, seeks help to fight terror

Beijing, Apr 18 (PTI) Seeking to link the economic
recession with the 9/11 attacks on the US, Pakistan has said
terrorism has emerged as a threat to world economy and asked
the global community to help it in combating the menace.

A day after international donors pledged more than five
billion dollars to help stabilise Pakistan, Pakistan president
Asif Ali Zardari told the the Boao Forum for Asia -- which is
focussing on tackling the financial crisis -- that terrorism
in South Asia is another serious issue haunting the world
peace.

"The issue in the region is terrorism, that is evolving
around Pakistan and Afghanistan," Zardari was quoted as saying
by Pakistan's official APP news agency.

"Help us, help the region, in the fight against
terrorism," Zardari said.

Seeking to link terrorism with the state of the economy,
the Pakistani President said, "even today's recession I would
put down to the aftermath of what happened in 9/11."

The threat of terrorism has endangered his country
economically and also the world at large, he said. "I feel
that all of us ... all of you should stand together and check
everything which threatens the world economy."

Over a dozen top leaders, 50 ministers and more than
1,600 political leaders, business people and academic scholars
gathered in the Boao Forum in China to debate the global
financial crisis and devise a strategy to address the issue.
PTI