Washington, Jan 24: Former Pakistani President
Pervez Musharraf has said that despite taking the "lead role"
in fighting the war on terror, his country is being "treated
unequally", hurting country`s leadership and people.
"Pakistan is being treated so unequally while we are
the ones who are in the lead role fighting the global war on
terror," Musharraf said.
"This is what hurts Pakistan. It hurts the leadership.
Indeed, it hurts the government. It hurts the people of
Pakistan," he told a news channel in an interview.
Musharraf is currently on tour to the US. He was very
critical of the US missile strikes inside Pakistan, the latest
of which was fired yesterday which killed seven people.
"Nobody in Pakistan is comfortable with the strikes
across the border. There is no doubt in that. Public opinion
is very much against it," he said.
Observing that public opinion in Pakistan is against
such methodology being adopted by the US, Musharraf said, "We
have to find a …. this satisfied the public opinion as well as
our resolve to fight terrorism."
"But as far as this issue of the new President Obama
having taken over and this continuing -- but I have always
been saying that policies don`t change with personalities;
policies have national interest, and policies depend on an
environment," he added. Earlier this week the new Obama administration had put
Pakistan on notice, and said that Islamabad would be held
accountable for the security in the border regions of
Afghanistan and its performance in the war on terror would be
linked to the US non-military financial aid.
"(President Barack) Obama and (Vice President Joe)
Biden will increase non-military aid to Pakistan and hold them
accountable for security in the border region with
Afghanistan," White House had said in its foreign policy
agenda document released soon after Obama had occupied the
Oval office.
"So the environment and national interest of the US
being the same, I thought policies will remain constant. But
however, we have to find a way out towards … dealing with Al
Qaeda and Taliban," he said.
When asked about the USD 10 billion US aid to
Pakistan, Musharraf said that this is a "pittance" given
Pakistan`s contribution role in the war against terrorism.
"Please don`t think that this USD 10 billion was such
a great amount that we ought to be eternally grateful while we
know that we deserve much more and we should have got much
more and we must get much more if we are to fight the global
war on terror," he said.
Bureau Report
