RAWALPINDI, Pakistan, 10 September 2005 — Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf yesterday praised Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as “courageous” for ordering the withdrawal of Jewish settlements from Gaza, but doesn’t plan to follow up a recent diplomatic breakthrough between the countries by meeting him at the United Nations this month.
“Why should there be a rush?” Musharraf said in an interview with The Associated Press. “We are clear in our stance. We want to progress toward resolution of the Palestinian dispute, and as progress is made, Pakistan would like to keep its reviewing its diplomatic stance.”
Musharraf’s comments follow a landmark meeting between the foreign ministers of Pakistan and Israel in Turkey last week, the first formal high-level contact between the Islamic and Jewish states, which fueled speculation of a possible summit in New York. Though Musharraf demurred on the meeting, he praised Sharon for the Gaza withdrawal.
“I think such actions need courage and boldness,” Musharraf said. “What we have seen on the TV, Israelis not wanting to leave, being forced out, is a courageous thing to do.
“We hope that he shows (an) equal amount of courage finally in the creation of the Palestinian state.”
“I can’t really give a cut line,” he said about when formal ties could be established, “but I’m always a believer in reacting before events, of foreseeing events and reacting accordingly ... I don’t believe in reaction, I believe in action.”
Despite calls by a hard-line Pakistani Islamic coalition for protests against his initiation of contacts with Israel, Musharraf said the response in Pakistan to the Turkey meeting had been good. “I see a positive response on the domestic side,” he said.
Kashmir Dispute
Musharraf said Pakistan and India are both optimistic about resolving their bitter dispute over Kashmir, and he hopes for a settlement while both the current leaders are in power.
Musharraf said he had established a good personal rapport with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. They are to meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in New York later this month.
“I feel there’s optimism on both sides.” “There’s a positive response toward resolution of the dispute on both sides. We need to achieve this within our tenures. That’s the time frame.”
But Musharraf declined to say whether this meant he hopes for a resolution of the dispute by 2007, when his current term as president is up — amid a simmering controversy over whether he plans to give up his post of army chief then and seek re-election as a civilian president. “I would not be able to comment on that,” he said. Manmohan’s term as prime minister ends in 2009.
President Praises Benazir’s Party
The president praised former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s main opposition Pakistan People’s Party, but said she could not become premier again.
“Benazir (Bhutto) has had two tenures,” Gen. Pervez Musharraf said. “According to the constitution of Pakistan at the moment, she is not eligible to become prime minister again.” Benazir has been living in exile in the United Arab Emirates since 1999 and faces a myriad of corruption cases.
