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FORMER PAKISTAN PRESIDENT Pervez Musharraf has said that nuclear-armed India and Pakistan need to “bury the hatchet” and settle their differences to reduce poverty and ease tensions in the region.
Musharraf fought against India in 1965 and 1971 wars and led Pakistan’s army in the 1999 Kargil conflict in which militants infiltrated India’s zone of Kashmir.
“We need to resolve the long-standing disputes between India and Pakistan because these are the causes of hatred, causes of conflict and the wars,” Musharraf told a media conference in Indian capital New Delhi.
“It’s doable,” he said, talking of resolving Indo-Pak disputes.
Musharraf, who ruled Pakistan as a military dictator and later as a civilian president between 1999 and 2008, said the issues need to resolved to improve the “socio-economic development” of South Asia, home to hundreds of millions of poor.
“It is high time we open our eyes to reality,” said Musharraf, who has lived in exile in Dubai and London since stepping down in 2008.
“We need to bury the hatchet.”
But “compromise should come from the bigger party. India should have a big heart because it is the bigger country,” he said.
Musharraf said that all outstanding disputes between Indian and Pakistan should be dealt with at the same time rather than following a “step-by-step” process.
Chief among the conflicts to be settled is the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, he said.
“This is actually the root cause which spawns not only war” but also “religious militancy in Pakistan”, Musharraf said at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit.
Muslim-majority Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan along the heavily-militarised Line of Control border.
It was plagued by violence for decades as militants fought for the region to become independent or part of Pakistan. While violence has fallen sharply in recent years, simmering tensions remain.
Turning to Afghanistan, Musharraf said the country faces two possible scenarios when US troops pull out in 2014.
“Either Afghanistan goes back to 1989, when the Soviets left and warlords began fighting, or it goes back to 1996, when the Taliban came. If the US leaves a minimum force, then the situation should be maintainable,” he said.
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I’m glad the word ‘dictator’ was used here because that’s exactly what he was. Benazir Bhutto’s family believe he was complicit in her murder. All in all, a nasty piece of work.
War crimes department should be chasing him down,,,or wait,,maybe it doesn’t suit them.
No! he doesn’t own any oil
Ah sure just get Sinn Fein to sort it out! They have solutions for everything!
Should have been 1 country at the beginning . Religion divides the same people
To get a peaceful solution to the Indo-Pakistai problem would take a lot of doing. And starting would cause some major upheavals in Pakistan. The first and most dangerous step would be to clear out the Pakistani intelligence service the CIS. They have been playing both sides of the fence for decades. On the one hand fighting militant Islamic extremists and on the other supporting and supplying them. Prime examples hiding Osama Bin Laden and training and supplying the Mumbai terrorists. And quite frankly I don’t think this present Pakistani government has the strength to take on the CIS
Pakistani intelligence service the CIS
I stand corrected.
Mick, please get your facts straight. Mumbai attacks were not planned by ISI, and as far as Osama is concerned, he was not creation of ISI but the ‘CIA’. They used him for breaking USSR, and got rid of him when he became public enemy no.1 for USA.
As far as Musharraf is concerned, he has done few rights and few wrongs and should be put on trial for his wrong-doings, but here he is talking about peace and I think he should be appreciated for that.
Murtaza firstly the Indian government and the Mumbi police may beg to differ with you. And secondly I never said that Osama Bin Laden was a creation of the ISI but that they complicit in hiding him for years. Are you telling me that nobody in the ISI top brass didn’t know who lived in the big compound only a short distance away from a very large military camp? And then had the Doctor that informed the Americans of Bin Ladens whereabouts arrested and charged with treason.
He is so right. And , the spin off would solve the Afghanistan problem also.
War is so stupid. Everyone involved in wars should ‘bury their hatchets’.
Wars are stupid & wrong but must be waged against bullies & aggressors. There is such a thing as a just war although they are few & far between.
If there were no devisions, there would be no need for war. Vicious circles can be broken, who says they can’t?
Yes but in who’s back?
have your say