'Pakistanis Know I Can Be Tough’
It doesn't seem that your effort to control extremists is working.
It is working on the Taliban. Now the issue is the locals and extremists. The extremists are Pakistanis, and I think many do come from South Punjab. They have a lot of madrassas. They are hiding, but they are there. But there are some foreigners. Al Qaeda is using these people. I can't say [with certainty] that every act of theirs is Al Qaeda-guided—I 'm not sure. But we know that a person like Baitullah Mehsud [the Taliban commander in Waziristan] is training suicide bombers. And we know that they were sending suicide bombers for me, against Benazir and other political leaders. We have caught many people in the last two weeks. These people had explosives—many, many caches of explosives.
Who would they target?
Politicians who [make up] the political system, the democratic system.
Why have they turned to Pakistan now?
They are turning against Pakistan because they are against me. They are against anyone who is supporting me. So therefore, they want to weaken the government, they want to weaken me. [Perhaps] they think they can take over Pakistan.
Your tribal agreements didn't solve the problem?
No, they didn't.
Do you think they were a mistake? There are some who think that the government didn't follow through on them, that you didn't keep your word.
We have to try everything. We have started dealing with everyone, including religious people, who we think are not jihadis. Now, if they turn out to be double-crossers, and it is possible, and you ask me, "Have you succeeded?" I'll say, "No." Maybe we'll succeed 25 percent. But if you say then we should stop it: no, we should not stop it. We must persevere.
There are people who say though, that on the political side that you suppress the political parties, and so only the religious parties and the extremists have gained as a consequence.
No, we have not suppressed political parties. Nobody is allowed to go into tribal agencies. Tribal agencies have a different structure. They have their own system. In fact, we have introduced elections to them. These political parties never used to go into the tribal agencies. They come directly under the governor and the president.
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Member Comments
Posted By: Mansoor @ 01/26/2008 11:58:28 AM
Comment: Nobody is 100% perfect but President Musharraf is the capable and right man and once u listen to him you want to support his efforts. As far as West /US support is concern , they should be thankfull that we are fighting their war , and we expect full and long term support, and they must stop threatening statements, specialy from those who are yet to win their nominations. betraying us will this time will be dangerous but not for us.
Posted By: nawawimohamad @ 01/19/2008 7:46:12 AM
Comment: Musharraf is having a very, very tough time fighting at least four major elements. Firstly the insurgents trying to destablize Pakistan. Secondly the political oppositions. Thirdly the state of its dwindling economy. The fourth is the fact that the US is withdrawing its support and at the same time threatening him. But the media is only adding fuel to the fire. A Kohar mentioned that the Pakistanis are a vesatile and resilient lot. I hope Musharraf and the Pakistanis will succeed.
Posted By: lbertybell @ 01/16/2008 11:31:07 PM
Comment: Gentlemen: It is said in the article that "Graham Allison of Harvard says that these weapons must be disbursed for them to have survivability, which "
A Harvard man would be most likely to say "dispersed." "Dispersed" means the weapons are scattered about in obscure places. "Disbursed" means paid out, as by a paymaster.