ISLAMABAD, 20 November 2004 — President Pervez Musharraf said he was dismayed by India’s response to his efforts to bring peace to Kashmir, and vowed to save Pakistan from the clutches of extremism in an interview with AFP.
Speaking for 40 minutes at his plush Army House residence late Thursday near Islamabad, Musharraf — also Pakistan’s army chief — expressed disappointment that his offers to wind back Pakistan’s long-held demands on the divided territory were unmatched by any flexibility from India.
“I’m saying that there’s light at the end of the tunnel. Should we put that light off?”
The Pakistani leader’s dismay came after Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh publicly ruled out considering dramatic new options aired by Musharraf for debate. They included carving up Kashmir, a scenic region of Himalayan mountains and rivers straddling India and Pakistan’s northern corners, into seven regions, demilitarizing them and placing them under either joint control, United Nations mandate or full independence.
When he outlined the options as “food for thought” at a fast-breaking dinner in October, Musharraf proclaimed optimism, and spoke of seeing “a light at the end of the tunnel” for the first time.
But India has responded by criticizing him for not raising the ideas formally and on Wednesday Manmohan, during a landmark visit to Indian Kashmir’s capital Srinagar to mark the start of a small troop pullout, said any review of Kashmir’s boundaries was unacceptable.
“The vibes that are now coming out of India do not encourage a process of normalization,” Musharraf said.
“We met in New York (in September) and I think our interaction was very good,, very fruitful and it raised a lot of hopes.
“But the vibes that we are getting now I would say are not very encouraging. Certainly the vibes should be much better than this... There ought to be a desire to move forward toward peace.
“While (from) there we get vibes in the opposite direction, they do not encourage peace.”
Musharraf was lukewarm on the retreat of an Indian battalion from a northern Kashmir town on Wednesday,
“These are good optics, but they are not striking at the strategic issue of moving forward on a resolution.
“If out of 600,000 or 700,000 troops, 40,000 troops are removed, well we welcome it. It’s a step forward. However, it is a tactical step forward.”
Musharraf, 61, said he held out hope for something positive from next week’s talks between Manmohan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.
“Kashmir obviously will feature very importantly (in the talks), because we seek clarification on what is happening? I proposed something else.”
Musharraf in recent months has indicated Islamabad could roll back its lifelong demand for a plebiscite for Kashmiris to choose between rule by Pakistan or India. But he felt India had failed to reciprocate in climbing down from its own traditional stance, such as not changing the de facto border separating the Pakistani and Indian portions.
“Why leave the plebiscite (demand) when the vibe on the other side is they don’t want to move an inch beyond their stated position?
“We will only leave (the plebiscite demand) if India is prepared to show flexibility.... At the moment, no sir, we don’t see that.”
Musharraf, who has ruled Pakistan with a firm hand since overthrowing an elected government in October 1999, said his reasons for resisting calls to give up his army post to become a civilian were tied in with the peace process with India, plus Pakistan’s front-line role in the war on terror and his campaign to eradicate extremism.
“We have set the country on a certain course… our diplomatic relations, our foreign policy, we have set it on a certain course of fighting terrorism in the region. We want that to be sustained,” he said.
“We have set a course toward bringing a societal reformation in Pakistan, where I believe that the extremists are holding sway. We want to make sure that they are suppressed, and the vast majority moderates are brought up.
“Now there’s a transformation, a renaissance... that we are going through. We want that process to be sustained and that is what is creating the doubts in my mind.”
The general, a former commando who saw action in the 1965 war with India, conceded that he had promised on national television last December to shed his uniform.
But the current environment required otherwise, he said as he expounded on his belief that it is his destiny to save Pakistan from extremism.
“I believe that there is something like destiny. I would like to take this country forward, get rid of all this extremism which is sapping us, sapping our real potential.
“I think it is (my destiny), because I am in this position.... So I think: I am here and I need to perform and I need to deliver for this nation.”
