Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf addresses a meeting of Indian businessmen in New Delhi, India.—AP

NEW DELHI Former president General Pervez Musharraf has said he would consider returning to politics again provided he was invited to play a useful role for the country, Press Trust of India said on Saturday, quoting from an interview he gave to an Indian TV channel.

`If someone offers, I will see whether I can play a role and then I will take the offer. I wont like to be a useless President,` Gen Musharraf told Aaj Tak TV channel, a sister unit of the India Today group that has invited him on a private visit to India.

The former army chief was responding to a question if he wants a second chance to rule the country.

Gen Musharraf said he was not missing anything even after being out of power. `I am relaxing with family, playing golf, meeting friends and reading and writing,` he said.

The former president claimed that hundreds of thousands of Hindus in Pakistan are his `great supporters`.

He blamed India for ignoring the `real issue` of resolution of Kashmir issue while talking about terror attacks and terrorist camps in his country.

Accepting that Pakistan is facing many problems in the post-Musharraf period, he said, `At that time, circumstances were such that I had to go. Now, economic issues, political turmoil and terrorism are the problems faced by Pakistan.`

India, Pakistan need peace

Pervez Musharraf called Saturday for peaceful relations between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan to allow them to fight terrorism more effectively, AFP adds.
`We must realise we are the victims of terrorism and extremism and we must go for solutions together,` Musharraf, who stepped down from political office last year, told a conference in New Delhi.

`Terrorism has to be defeated... in the world, in Pakistan and in India,` he said.

He said he believed `the dream of peace` is possible between the neighbours which have fought three wars against each other, two over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.

But Musharraf said the two sides needed to build trust and that the issue of Kashmir needed to be resolved swiftly. `Kashmir remains the key dispute and the sore point,` he said.

Musharraf said both sides needed to be bold to confront the main challenges — `the curse of terrorism and extremism,` poverty, underdevelopment and hostility between the two countries.

Both must avoid `whipping up war hysteria and creating hatred in the public because of any terrorist attack that may have taken place,` he said.