Kashmir, Afghanistan different: Musharraf

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, OCT. 8. The Pakistan President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, today once again described the situation in Kashmir as ``freedom struggle'' and said it was not related to what had been happening in Afghanistan.

Gen. Musharraf, who was addressing a news conference here, said that to address the root of terrorism the international community should resolve political disputes including Kashmir and Palestine.

``The root lies in the sense of deprivation and powerlessness. Wherever there are disputes around the world they need to be settled in a fair and just manner.''

Describing the efforts taken by the world community in Afghanistan as plucking the leaves of a big tree, he said: ``When you aim at an organisation like the Al-Qaeda you are cutting off a branch. The tree remains. The need is to identify the root of the problem''.

Asked about the reported statements of Indian leaders, he said the response from across the border was regrettable. ``When the world is facing such a catastrophe India is trying to draw mileage''.

In response to a question whether he had taken up the Kashmir issue, he said it would be unbecoming on his part to talk of the Kashmir dispute with world leaders. However, the issue had figured indirectly in his discussions with world leaders, he said and emphasised the need for the international community to redress issues such as Palestine and Kashmir.

On the car bomb blast outside the Srinagar Assembly last week, he said it could not be part of the ``freedom struggle'' and Pakistan strongly condemned the terrorist act. ``Pakistan condemns all forms of terrorism in general and the terrorist acts perpetrated on September 11, in particular.''

To a question, Gen. Musharraf said ``certainly any operation in Afghanistan will not root out terrorism. We need to address the root causes which are giving birth to terrorism and are the causes of extremism.'' On ``internal terrorism'', he said, ``it hurts me when these killings take place within Pakistan. There is no fixed solution to address this problem. To address it we are taking certain actions to root out the causes.''

The General said there was a need to improve law and order and ``we are giving potency to the law enforcing agencies. We also need to improve the intelligence and investigative set-up. We are moving in a very considered and deep manner to get to the root cause (of the problem). The problem is not just due to internal factors. There is an external influence to it that is very important. I know them. I can't believe that Muslims can go to mosque and kill people,'' he said, adding that ``the external influence needs to be addressed.''

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Section  : International
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