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| Friday, 23 January 2004 |
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No short-cut against Islamic militants - Musharraf ISTANBUL, Thursday (Reuters) President Pervez Musharraf said the fight to root out Islamic militancy in Pakistan would be long and hard, but there was no danger of his country's nuclear weapons falling into extremist hands. Musharraf, who survived two recent assassination attempts blamed on militants opposed to his support for the U.S. "war on terror", said the violence sprang from years of conflict in flashpoints such as Afghanistan, Kashmir and the Middle East. "All this has a fallout, and it has led to extremism, it has led to militancy in Pakistani society," he told a small group of reporters during an official trip to Turkey. "It will certainly take time to curb. There is no short-cut solution to it." But he said he was confident most Pakistanis backed his stance, despite noisy protests on Saturday by opposition politicians during his first speech to parliament since seizing power in a 1999 coup. The protests were led partly by Islamists who recently cut a deal to keep him in power until 2007, but who walked out of the session en masse to condemn his support for Washington. "The vast majority of Pakistanis are moderate. They are not extremists," he said. "And that is my strength... What I am trying to do is give voice to this vast majority." Musharraf, who called on Saturday for a "jihad (holy war) against extremism", said there was no cause for concern that militants would get access to Pakistan's nuclear arsenal. "Pakistan's nuclear assets... are under very strong custodial controls," he said. "There is no danger of our nuclear assets falling into extremist hands." Musharraf reiterated that Pakistan was keen to find a way ahead in its dispute with India over divided Kashmir, which in 2002 brought the two nuclear powers to the brink of their fourth war, but said both sides needed to compromise. "We have to show flexibility. We have to go beyond stated positions. Both of us have to do that," he said. "It has to be mutual. It has to be reciprocal." Talks on Kashmir and other tricky issues are due to start in February following a breakthrough meeting this month between Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. |
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