Pervez goes back on his word to US

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has now denied he ever gave an assurance to the US on permanently ending cross-border terrorism and shutting down terrorist camps in Pakistan.

In fact, in interviews with the Washington Post and Newsweek, published over the weekend, Musharraf appeared to have gone back on several 'promises' he made to US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage during the latter's visit to Pakistan.

He even reverted to describing terrorism in Kashmir as a "freedom struggle" and 'clarified' the only thing he had given an assurance on was a cessation (currently) of movement across the Line of Control (LoC).

Musharraf almost seemed to be threatening when he said: "I'm not going to give an assurance that for years nothing will happen. We must address the root cause, the cause of Kashmir." If you want a guarantee of peace, there are three ways — denuclearise South Asia, ensure a conventional deterrence so that war never takes place in the sub-continent, and find a solution to Kashmir, he said.

Since it is the weekend, there has, so far, been no official reaction from the US on what Musharraf has said now.

Only the day before the interview appeared in the Washington Post, the newspaper had reported Musharraf had agreed to the US prescription on ending cross-border terrorism permanently.

Reporting on the 'Armitage-Musharraf agreement', the daily had quoted officials as saying: "Once Musharraf agreed to the term 'permanent', Armitage reconfirmed several times over the two-hour conversation that Musharraf was comfortable with it, and that he could relay this commitment to India."

In the Newsweek interview, Musharraf has said the question of closing down terrorist camps did not even come up during his discussions with Armitage.

On Kashmir, Musharraf rejected that acceptance of the LoC as the border could be a viable solution. "That is just not possible. If the LoC were the border, what have we fought two wars for?"

He even objects to the assembly elections being planned in Jammu and Kashmir, saying, "Kashmir is a disputed territory, not a part of India."

However, Musharraf did admit in the interviews that the current phase of reduced tensions was "certainly a turning point for the good".

Washington, June 23, 2002 (HT)