NEW DELHI, March 2: President Pervez Musharraf said on Sunday he was willing to join hands with India to fight extremism, but warned he would lose power if he compromised too much over Kashmir.
“If someone says in a positive manner that we want to solve it, then we are together on this issue of controlling every extremist,” President Musharraf told an Indian Hindi-language news channel Aaj Tak in an interview broadcast on Sunday. The interview was taken in Kuala Lumpur on the sidelines of the NAM summit.
The president said that India and Pakistan should resume talks to “set the strategic direction” in the fight against extremism.
“Then we will solve this problem and all problems,” he said.
President Musharraf said Pakistan wanted to resolve all disputes, including the core issue of Kashmir, with India through negotiations.
The president said he was ready to initiate a dialogue with Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on the Kashmir issue.
Responding to a question, the president said that no leader in Pakistan could take up other matters like free trade, commerce and economy with India without first resolving the Kashmir problem.
“You need to understand the pulse of Pakistan. No Pakistani leader can come into politics and survive if they start doing all kinds of things with India — talking trade, commerce, economy with India. He will be kicked out,” he added.
“Let us understand the ground reality,” the president said, adding talks should start on all issues including the Kashmir issue.
The president added: “There could never be a dialogue between the two countries without Kashmir being the core issue.”
FREEDOM STRUGGLE: Refuting the Indian allegation of cross-border terrorism, President Musharraf said the freedom struggle in Kashmir was just and indigenous.
“There is no terrorist movement in Kashmir. This is an indigenous and just freedom struggle of the Kashmiri people and those who dub it as terrorists movement, are telling a lie. Kashmiris are fighting for their freedom and they want resolution of the Kashmir problem,” he said.
The president said the root cause of the problem had to be removed to resolve the Kashmir issue and cosmetic solution would not work at all.
Gen Musharraf said he never justified terrorism, but acknowledged Pakistan had sympathisers of the Kashmir freedom fighters.
“Yes, there is sympathy for them from our side but not from the government. You have 700,000 troops on the border; were you able to stop them?”
ISI ROLE: President Musharraf defended the role of Inter-Services Intelligence agency, which New Delhi repeatedly charges has supported anti-Indian extremists.
“You also have an intelligence agency,” the president said of India. “Don’t think it’s pure and absolutely above reproach.
“We too have our intelligence organization and it works,” he said.
To a question about alleged involvement of Pakistan in the terrorist attack on Indian parliament in December 2001, the president termed the charge baseless and fabricated, and regretted that after the Agra summit, a continuous malicious campaign had been launched against Pakistan and against him.
About raising the Kashmir issue at the NAM forum, meant for multilateral issues, President Musharraf posed a counter question. “When bilateral process is not taking place what should we do?. Let us discuss it (the Kashmir issue) bilaterally, otherwise I will continue to raise the Kashmir issue at every forum be it Saarc, NAM or OIC.”
AGRA SUMMIT: To a question regarding Agra Summit, the president said he had openly stated that Mr Vajpayee had showed statesmanship and he was grateful and gave him credit. The president said he took various steps to reduce tension including shaking hands with the Indian prime minister at the Saarc summit in Nepal and underscored the need for talks between Pakistan and India on all disputes including the Kashmir issue.
The president said after the Agra summit the Indian leaders repeatedly alleged that he was unifocal at the summit, which was not true. “I was not unifocal and we discussed all issues including Kashmir at the summit. We cannot leave Kashmir which is the main issue,” he said, asking interviewers to see the copy of the Agra declaration which would divulge discussion on all issues including Kashmir. But the other side, he said, tried to undermine “what I did or was trying to do”.
BORDER TENSION: Responding to another question about increase in tension between the two countries after the Agra summit, President Musharraf said all this was done by design. “I have taken not even a single action which could raise tension between the two countries.”
After the summit, the president said, he told his team not to say anything about what had not been achieved in the summit. Even during the press interaction those who tried to utter insulting remarks towards Indian leadership were asked not to do so.
When asked whether all this was being done on both sides for the domestic audience, the president said: “Had I been doing for domestic audience, I would have not done so many things. I can assure the risk and bold steps I have taken, nobody has ever taken in Pakistan. All this I have done at the cost of my reputation. By taking such bold steps, I put my popularity at risk, otherwise I would have been the most popular person in Pakistan.”
US PRESSURE: Asked if steps regarding ban on extremist organizations and freezing of their accounts were taken under the US pressure, the president replied: “I can assure you that was all humbug. The US had concerns only in Afghanistan after 9/11. Let me assure you that there is no American pressure on me.”
COURT ACQUITTAL: President Musharraf said that heads of two religious parties released by courts in his country had done nothing illegal.
He said it was not justified to incarcerate the founders of Lashkar-i-Taiba and Jaish-i-Mohammad.
“There was nothing illegal that they had done. You can’t keep a man indefinitely under arrest without trial,” he said.
“I banned both these organizations, closed all their offices and froze all their accounts,” the president said.
President Musharraf pointed out that India had not tried Mr Azhar when he was in its custody.
“Jaish’s leader was in jail for about six years. He was not tried nor was he sentenced,” he said.
INDIAN REACTION: Reacting to President Musharraf’s interview, Indian foreign ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said Pakistani leader’s comments were “time-worn, trite and hackneyed.”
“Mr Musharraf showed no intentions of fulfilling his commitments and international obligations to end cross-border terrorism, to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorists and stop Pakistan from serving as a platform for international terrorists,” Mr Sarna said.—AFP/APP
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