The Times of India
WASHINGTON: A testy "president" Musharraf has blamed the United States for Pakistan’s current travails and threatened to quit the scene if the elections being forced on him created a situation that was "unacceptable" to him.
Musharraf, who was virtually forced to retire from the army under western pressure and took oath as a civilian "president" last week, bristled with anger in a rambling, incoherent ABC interview on Friday in which he lashed out at both the US and the domestic opposition. He did not define what constituted "unacceptable" outcome that would cause him to leave office.
"The opposition, they have all along these five years tried to destabilise me and the government. You have to understand, we don’t want agitation here... Agitation means breaking down everything, burning things. That cannot be allowed," said the man who came to power in a military coup and anointed himself a president with the help of a constitution, judiciary and elections that were all rigged to perpetuate his rule.
He rejected the widely-held view that he had struck a deal with Benazir Bhutto under US tutelage, saying, "I’m not into any deal with anyone... We are in a stage where we have to have free, fair and transparent elections. We have to see, after the election, how things develop."
He then added: "If the situation develops in a manner which is absolutely unacceptable to me, I have a choice of leaving."
Given how unpopular the forcibly retired general is reported to be at the moment, the offer will likely be greeted with joy in Pakistan. But going by the tenacity with which he has clung to power, it appeared to be more a rhetorical tantrum -- and a subtle threat to Washington, which is fearful of a post-Musharraf meltdown -- than any genuine intent to leave.
Musharraf insisted that the US share blame for Pakistan’s situation because of its inconsistent policies in the war on terror.
"If there’s a failure, it’s not Pakistan’s failure," he said, bristling when asked why his government failed to root out al-Qaida and Taliban militants from the tribal region, adding. "We are fighting terrorism everywhere...We have gone through 30 years of turmoil...we handled the situation along for 12 years. Please don’t accuse us."
The retired general’s gripe was that the US left Pakistan to its own devices after the multi-billion dollar Washington-sponsored jihad against the Soviet communists in Afghanistan in the late 1980s.
But he glossed over the fact that Pakistan used the remnants of that war to foster a jihad in Jammu and Kashmir in India for which Islamabad repeatedly faced Indian remonstration, US reprimand, and came close to being declared a state sponsor of terrorism.
Recent accounts have implicated Musharraf himself as overseeing some of the terrorist activity sponsored by the Pakistani establishment, and the US media has gone as far as to label him a "thug" and a "terrorist."
Still, Musharraf’s latest outburst had US President George Bush rushing to mollify him with a phone a phone call on Friday.
Pakistani officials said Bush called to congratulate Musharraf on his assumption of office as the president and also lauded his commitment to fight extremism and terrorism.
But back in the US , editorial and public opinion, including among the Pakistani expat community, appears firmly against the general despite his partial retreat into a civilian garb. An "image repair" team sent by Musharraf to explain his actions, including imposition of the emergency, was roundly heckled and jeered at talk hosted by the Asia Society in New York.
The audience, mostly of expat Pakistanis in the area including the son of the incarcerated legal luminary Aitzaz Ahsan, heatedly accused the three-member team of Musharraf loyalists of lying and willfully denigrating the Pakistani Supreme Court and the judiciary.
The team beat a hasty retreat, with the Asia Society hosts protecting them from angry questions.
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