| isolated freak |
Posted
on 05-Nov-03 07:12 AM
I missed this one yesterday. Damn! he came early morning, by the time I was all dresed up and ready to go to this one, he was gone.
Anyways,
I noticed this consistency in Musharraf's speech. When he was addressing the last SAARC Summit in Kathmandu, unlike the other 6 head of governmnets/states, he didn't outright denounce the acts of violence as terrorism. He came up with these questions: Who is a terrorist? How do we define terrorists? He said something like this, "one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist." Of course, he didn't say that to refer to the Al Qiada which is very active in Pakistan or to the Maoists in nepal. Everybody knows his statement was aimed towards the Kashmiri militants. And this statement was one of the reasons the Indian PM did not warmly reciprocate to that Historical Friendship Hand-Shake gesture.
Anyway, what follows is from today's The Dawn.
BEIJING, Nov 4: President Pervez Musharraf vowed on Tuesday to pursue extremists but warned that operations against Al Qaeda and the Taliban were of short-term tactical value and that root causes of terrorism must be addressed.
"There must be no doubt that we must all act and launch a war against extremism and terrorism," he said in a speech to students at the prestigious Peking University on the second day of a visit to meet China's new leaders.
"But let me say that these are only symptoms. If we want to win the war against extremism and terrorism, we must also address the root causes." "Operations against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, Hamas and Hezbollah are all of short-term tactical value," said Musharraf.
"Long-term strategy lies in addressing the root causes of terrorism. What is the cause of extremism and militancy? It is hopelessness, powerlessness, desperation, injustice and because of non-resolution of long-standing political dispute.
Kashmir and the dispute between Israel and the Palestinians remained dangerous, he said. "The long-standing conflicts and disputes, in particular Palestine and Kashmir, remain potentially explosive."
"These disputes must be resolved on the basis of respect for the wishes of the people involved." The president said it was because of the conflict between India and Pakistan that South Asian countries were not cooperating for the uplift of the people of that region.
"That is the cause. Also added to this are poverty and lack of education." The president said Pakistan joined the US-led war against terrorism "as a matter of principle" but warned that Muslims increasingly feel that Islam is being targeted in the current campaigns being waged by the United States.
Without referring to the administration of US President George W. Bush explicitly, he said many people in the West were under the impression that Islam was a religion of extremism, militancy and intolerance.
"Both these misconceptions are wrong and must be addressed," he said. He emphasized that Islam does not teach extremism, militancy or intolerance and was not in conflict with democracy, secularism and modernism.
"Unfortunately, the Muslim extremists show a distorted version of our great religion Islam."
TIES WITH INDIA: Musharraf said Islamabad wanted to develop peaceful relations with India but accused New Delhi of lacking "sincerity" over the Kashmir issue.
"We want to develop peaceful relations with India. We want to have a composite dialogue with them, but Kashmir cannot be allowed to be sidelined," Gen Musharraf said in a speech to Peking University students.
"We want to deal with India on the basis of sovereign equality. We cannot be coerced and we will guard our honour and dignity very jealously." The president said Pakistan had been "making overtures to India to start the process of dialogue and move forward to a resolution of Kashmir".
"When they (Indians) put forward points or suggestions for normalizing the relations, those suggestions somehow do not include the issue of Kashmir. "So, we feel that they lack sincerity to take up the Kashmir dispute frontally and resolve this," he said, adding it was difficult to move forward towards peace without addressing the Kashmir issue.
India is adamant it will not resume direct dialogue with Pakistan until "cross-border terrorism" in Kashmir comes to an end. China also holds a small area of the region and Musharraf praised Beijing for its "principled stand" on the issue. "Pakistan and China won independence almost at the same time in a different era," he said. "We have come a long a way from where we started." -Agencies
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