UNITED NATIONS, 25 September 2004 — Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday ruled out sending troops to help restore stability in Iraq, rebuffing pleas from the Iraqi interim government and the United States.

“As far as Pakistan is concerned, our domestic environment is not conducive. It continues to be not conducive. We cannot be seen as an extension of the present forces there,” Musharraf said.

In a wide-ranging news conference, he said too much attention was being paid to whether he retained his army chief title while progress on other issues was being ignored.

Ahead of a key meeting with India’s new prime minister, Musharraf said he would bring no specific proposals but hoped the two leaders would develop a relationship and “judge each other’s intentions.”

Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said Tuesday he had pressed Musharraf to contribute troops to the US-led multinational force fighting an insurgency in his country.

The United States and the United Nations also encouraged Pakistan to contribute to a force to protect UN staff in Iraq, diplomats said. But Musharraf said Pakistani troops did not want to be seen as occupation forces, “so our going there now will be totally counterproductive.”

Given the realities in Iraq, with an interim government preparing for elections, “security forces should come from Iraq itself,” he said.

“That itself will be the best option of substituting the US and British forces to withdraw from their high visibility, handing over to Iraqi local forces, and then ultimately working out an exit strategy after an elected government also comes on the ground,” Musharraf said.

He noted that no Muslim country had so far been prepared to contribute troops to the US-led force.

On Iran, which Washington accuses of developing nuclear weapons, Musharraf said: “Whatever Iran is doing is its own affair.”

He added: “Iran needs to deliberate over whatever their internal situation on the nuclear front is, and take their own actions.”

Iran insists its nuclear program — the object of intense scrutiny by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog — is purely for peaceful purposes. But it kept many nuclear activities secret for 18 years.

Pakistan tested nuclear weapons in 1998.

After recently raising the possibility of staying on as army chief, Musharraf has come under fire for reneging on a promise to become a civilian president.

He said he had not made a final decision. But he argued that under his leadership, Pakistan had improved human rights, empowered women and expanded local government and this was being ignored.

Musharraf scoffed at question about negotiating with India without focusing on a solution of the Kashmir dispute. “Let’s not sideline an issue, which is a core (issue) and we have fought wars on it,” he said. “We cannot do that.”

“How can any confidence, or any normalization take place, without (confronting) any issues on which we have fought three wars and a number of skirmishes?” Musharraf asked.

“We kill each other every day on the Line of Control... We are two angry countries. Let’s resolve the cause of that anger, and then we can proceed on normalization everywhere,” Musharraf said. The Pakistani leader also said this was the last chance for a bilateral solution, hinting that the help of other countries might be needed for negotiations.

“I think the best option is bilateralism. But if bilateralism does not produce results. Then we fail. And we failed over 50 years. So what (good) is bilateralism if it fails to produce results?”