LONDON, Dec 7: President Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday urged US-led multinational forces to hasten their departure from Iraq by training local troops more quickly.
He told British lawmakers in the House of Commons that training Iraqis would provide an 'exit strategy' for the foreign troops. "It should speed up the process of raising the Iraqi security forces," he said. "They will allow an exit strategy."
He said the world needed to focus on Iraq's current unrest and instability, and the effect this could have on its interim government. "Abandoning them would create such instability that we won't be able to handle it then," he said.
Musharraf arrived in Britain on Sunday after meeting US President George W. Bush in Washington. After talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Monday, the two leaders said terrorism needed to be tackled both through military action and by removing 'root causes' like poverty and political grievances.
President Musharraf stressed during his visit in Britain, both alongside Mr Blair and again before the prestigious International Institute for Strategic Studies on Tuesday, that the time was right to address deeper political problems that bred extremists.
"Palestine and Kashmir both are ripe for solving now," he said. "Failure is no longer an option," he said, referring to the two territorial disputes. "For the sake of future generations and peace and harmony in the world today we have to act and we have to solve the political disputes."
Gen Musharraf said his forces were stationed on the frontline of the anti-terror fight, with 20,000 soldiers in remote mountains battling Al Qaeda remnants. "We don't know where Osama bin Laden is," he told the gathering at the London think-tank. "We know he is alive but we don't know where he is. But let there be no misconception that we are doing nothing else than following this man."
PAKISTANI COMMUNITY: Earlier on Monday, President Musharraf said that Pakistan wanted peace with dignity and honour, stressing that an ultimate resolution of the Kashmir dispute should be acceptable to both Pakistan and India as well as the people of Kashmir.
Addressing a gathering of the Pakistani community here, the president maintained that Kashmir dispute would be resolved without compromising sovereign equality. "The world feels that Kashmir dispute needs to be resolved, both (US) President Bush and Prime Minister Blair are on board," he said.
He reiterated that both the confidence-building measures and the dialogue process had to move in tandem. "One cannot gallop (while) the other lags behind," he said. Musharraf referred to his Sept 24 meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and said it was for the first time that a statement had acknowledged that all options on Kashmir would be explored.
"Kashmir is the key dispute, and we have to move forward." The president said Pakistan was no more seeking assistance but offering it to others. He said a few days back the country had thanked the IMF and refused to receive a $262 million tranche of Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility.
"We do not need aid, but trade and economic cooperation." He said the country was at the crossroads where it faced challenges but at the same time it had great opportunities. "With calibre, and determination we shall change the challenges into opportunities," he vowed.
He said the country needed investment for creation of job opportunities and alleviation of poverty in both rural and urban areas. The agriculture sector could absorb the maximum jobless, he said, adding that a major dam would be built soon to meet the irrigation water requirements.
Referring to his meetings with world leaders, the president said Pakistan was now being asked to play a key role in contributing to the world peace and socio-economic development of the Ummah.
The government, he said, was trying to bring about a societal transformation where extremists needed to be brought down and vast majority of moderates needed to dominate.
He said wide-ranging reforms were under way to transform the country into ideals of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Allama Iqbal who wanted it to be an enlightened, modern, Islamic and forward-looking state.
He said if Pakistan was facing any danger it was from extremists. Otherwise it was a nuclear and missile power, fully capable of defending itself. He urged the vast majority not to acquiesce to a wrong and misleading portrayal of their religion.
He called upon the Pakistani community to interact with the British society and follow the law of the land. He asked them to confront those cynics and extremists defaming their great religion and added "we want to modernize but not westernize."
President Musharraf said Pakistan was facing four misperceptions. One was that everything that happened in Afghanistan was from Pakistan and second was the allegation of cross-border terrorism in Kashmir.
Third, the misperception of its involvement in nuclear proliferation and fourth, the world looked at the country as "an extremist and intolerant society." He said these were dangers which threatened the existence of the country and had to be faced head on and this was done successfully by adopting prudent policies.
These policies, he pointed out, had helped wash off the first three misperceptions while wide-ranging reforms of seminaries and syllabus coupled with punitive action against extremists were under way to make Pakistan a modern Islamic state. He took the Pakistani community into confidence over measures to counter terrorism, including the military action in South Waziristan.
SHINING PAKISTANIS: Earlier, Pakistan High Commissioner to Britain Dr Maleeha Lodhi presented the address of welcome. Ms Lodhi introduced to the president nine young British Pakistanis who had made a mark in the British society by their performances in various fields.
They were Ameen Jan, Rehana Ahmed, Rizwana Bashir, Ali Kabeer, Mishal Husain, Shahid Luqman, Ahmed Yar, Mahnaz Malik and Dr Naveed Zaidi. Ameen Jan was born in Karachi, educated at Stanford and is leading a major international initiative on global crisis at Prime Minister Tony Blair's Strategy Unit. Ameen Jan deals with Britain's policy response to humanitarian crisis.
Rehana Ahmed has written a book Walking a tightrope: New writing from Asian Britain. It is an anthology of short stories for teenagers by South Asian writers based in Britain.
Rizwana Bashir was the first UK-born Pakistani to become president of the Oxford University Union a year ago. Ali Kabeer from Birmingham is a promising young cricketer who has played for England and was the main strike bowler of the Worcestershire Club.
Mishal Husain from Northampton works for BBC Wolrd News and its Hard Talk programme. Shahid Luqman, born in Gujrat, is a financier from Manchester and has founded 'Pearl Holdings' for the property finance market.
Ahmed Yar of Karachi at the age of 26 holds a senior position at Standard Chartered Bank. Mahnaz Malik from Lahore is the winner of the prestigious National Young Trainee Lawyer of the Year Award in England.
She is a leading lawyer and has established the British-Pakistan Law Forum as well as the Pakistan Chapter of the American Bar Association and New York State Bar Association. Dr Naveed Zaidi, belonging to Karachi, is a scientist and his research has led to develop the world's first plastic magnet to work at room temperature.
The High Commissioner further said that Amir Khan who could not come to the programme, had become one of the Britain's most recognizable sports figures winning a silver medal at his first Olympics appearance in Athens this year. President Musharraf went to the podium, shook hands with all the young British Pakistanis and gave them gifts. -Agencies
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