Zardari's admission a healthy sign: Govt

"It's a healthy sign. We certainly would like action that shows his (Zardari's) serious change of heart when it comes to such activities emanating from Pakistani territory against our country," Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor told reporters here.

For the first time, Zardari admitted during an interactive meeting with former senior civil servants on Tuesday night that militants and extremists were "created and nurtured" in Pakistan as a policy to achieve some short-term tactical objectives.

Tharoor said New Delhi had expressed similar views that some of the actions emanating from Pakistan appeared to have been in pursuance of this policy of Islamabad which Zardari has now confirmed.