ISLAMABAD, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said Friday there is no choice with the government but to fight the militants and extremists till the bitter end.

    Zardari made the remarks Friday while meeting a jirga of public representatives and notables from Swat, where the Pakistani security forces are carrying out operation against militants.

    The Swat Jirga was the second group that Zardari met during this month, aimed at soliciting suggestions from the local people and to focus on how best to fight the militants in the region bordering Afghanistan.

    The NNI news agency quoted Zardari as saying that the militants wanted to hijack state power through the force of the gun to impose their own world view on the people which simply was not acceptable.

    "There is no alternative but to fight them till the bitter end if we are to live as a nation in accordance with the aspirations of our people and not according to the dictates of a minority using brute force," he said.

    "The absence of alternatives makes the mind clear", he said. "As the government has no alternative but to fight and defeat the militants its mind is clear about what to do."

    The political and civilian leadership in the past has successfully confronted militancy in parts of the country and, drawing lessons from that experience, is determined to carry out the ongoing fight against militancy to logical conclusion, he said.

    Zardari said that he would regularly meet representatives of the people from the affected areas to hear their views and to take their suggestions forward to the government.

    He said that the government's struggle against militancy was part of a larger struggle for saving the country, the federation and its federal and democratic structure.

    That is why the government has embarked on the three Ds strategy involving Dialogue, Development and Deterrence to root out the menace, he added.