Pakistan, Feb. 9 -- Heads of state rarely use the language of strategic alarm lightly. When, on Sunday, President Asif Ali Zardari warned that India had become a threat to global peace, his statement was meant to travel far beyond Islamabad. By linking regional dynamics to conditions "similar to or worse than pre-9/11," the president framed Pakistan's security challenge not as an internal failing but as the product of hostile external design. The timing of the remarks-delivered days after a suicide bombing at an Islamabad imambargah killed 36 worshippers-gave them additional weight. Mr Zardari went further, alleging that some neighbouring states had become "partners in crime" by allowing militant elements to operate from their soil.

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