Daily Times

WASHINGTON: Former president Pervez Musharraf on Saturday said that Pakistan should counter Indian threat, while calling on not to escalate the tensions between both countries.

“India is threatening to strike us at the right time which is a serious matter,” he said in an interview at the Washington Ideas Forum. “I think the war hysteria that is being created in India, I repeat, India, not in Pakistan, is an issue. They do that always. This is not the only time. Every time they do that,” he said.

He said that the war hysteria was being perpetuated in India, and not Pakistan, and he would advice them not to escalate the situation in the region. In a session moderated by senior host Robert Siegel, he said that he will return back to Pakistan at the right time, despite the plethora of cases against him, as he was acting beyond himself and had no political ambitions.

He also spoke on the deteriorating relations between Pakistan and the United States, and said that Pakistan was in thick and thin with US and fought wars with them including against the Soviets. He called on the need for strong relationship with the US, which can also affect ties with Afghanistan.

Musharraf said that there was an inherent weakness in the democracy which has not tailored in accordance with the dictates of the environment. “There are no checks and balances in the democracy, and even the constitution doesn’t provides it which sucks it into the socio-economic factors,” he said.

“Our people love the army and demand a lot from it. So I’m very proud of the fact that army has backed me because I’ve been with them for over 40 years. I fought wars with them, I’ve fought two wars and I’ve fought a number of (security) actions with them. So I know they are my constituency,” he said.

He admitted that the army has played a political role in the governance of Pakistan, mainly due to the misgovernance of the democratic governments. Therefore, the military was forced and pulled, sucked into the political environment, especially when misgovernance was going on and Pakistan was going down in all socioeconomic indicators, he said. “Our people massively run towards the army chief, and that is how the army gets involved,” he said.

He said that he returned to the country not due to the social media, but his vision to bring a change in the society. “I want to create a third-party coalition in Pakistan,” he said. However, he was disappointed over the lack of popular support and coalition partners. The former president is currently on tour of the United States, where he is expected to visit Capitol Hill, and meet several prominent leaders, and also interact with the Pakistani Diaspora.