news details |
|
|
| Kargil ghosts continue to haunt Pakistan | | Nawaz unilaterally decided to withdraw:Musharraf | |
NEW DELHI, OCT. 23
The war of words between Pakistan President, Gen. Parvez Musharraf, and former Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, over the 1999 Kargil war between India and Pakistan has intensified, with the former publicly attacking the latter for his decision unilaterally to withdraw Pakistani troops from Kargil. Nawaz Sharif took the decision in Washington under pressure from then US President, Bill Clinton, according to Gen. Musharraf.
It was during the launching ceremony of his autobiography's Urdu version Sub Se Pahle Pakistan (Pakistan comes first) at an Iftar-dinner in Islamabad towards the end of last week that Gen. Musharaf said: “He (Nawaz Sharif) had been fully briefed by the armed forces about the pros and cons of the situation. There was no problem from the military point of view on Kargil and the then Prime Minister disregarding the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Defence planned after two days for taking stock of the situation of Kargil left in haste for Washington where he agreed to withdraw from Kargil".
The Pak President said that on July 2, 1999, he personally briefed the Defence Committee on Cabinet on every military aspect of the issue, which was also attended by the then Prime Minister, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Raja Zafarul Haq. He told the meeting that the army was fully prepared to meet any challenge that might be posed by the adversary in Kargil conflict.
However, he added that when asked, he made it clear to Nawaz Sharif that to disengage troops was a political decision and, therefore, rested with the government. He reiterated that Nawaz Sharif wanted to make him a "scapegoat".
About his autobiography, Gen. Musharraf said that he had never thought it to be a bestseller. The autobiography is also being translated in Hindi, Chinese, Russian, Arabic, Bengali and Marhati languages. While he had an interest to write about his life, Gen. Musharraf was quoted as saying that the "main objective was to project Pakistan and promote its interests".
He said that Pakistan was the most misperceived country in the world and the mostly Western media had presented distorted views about it. But, through his book, he said that he had tried to project Pakistan’s point of views on various issues of the world interest like democracy, terrorism, human rights, economy, nuclear proliferation etc. The president said that he had been able to remove misperceptions about Pakistan in the world.
About the nuclear issue, the Pak President said that the world had wrongly perceived that the government and the military were involved in proliferation. Gen. Musharraf said that he explained in the book that it was an individual act. He further said that he had also told the world that Pakistan's strategic assets were in safe control and the command and control structure was "the best in the world".
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
