LAHORE - Former president Gen Pervez Musharraf is ‘proud’ of what he did in Kargil, saying this operation enabled Pakistan to catch India by the neck.
“I am very proud of it that it happened,” he said in a TV interview on Monday.
His opponents, especially those in power at present, hold him responsible for embittering relations between Pakistan and India.
Gen Musharraf claimed that Pakistan and India had more cordial relations during his era than ever before and it was for this reason that the two states were very close to settling the Siachen and Sir Creek issues. Agreement on the two subjects was ready for signature, he said.
According to him, parameters for the settlement of the Kashmir dispute were also being drafted.
Answering a question, the former president said Prime Minister Modi was a known anti-Pakistan and anti-Muslim leader and at international level he was branded as butcher of Gujarat for the role he played in the massacre of Muslims when he was the chief minister of the state.
Still, he said, Modi was now in a position to settle Pakistan-India differences and differences among religious communities. Musharraf alleged that India was responsible for the unrest going on in Balochistan.
In response to a question, the former president defended the military operation against Islamabad’s Lal Masjid, and said there was need for another operation there.
He also underlined the need for reforming the religious seminaries so that those passing out could become engineers, doctors and officials. Seminary students should not be content with becoming maulvis, he said.
Any mosque or seminary promoting extremism should be proceeded against. According to Gen Musharraf, all seminaries should be registered with the government and syllabus taught in other educational institutions should be enforced there. The seminary students, he said, should take examinations organized by the boards of intermediate and secondary education.
He said Pakistan needed a government that could bring about electoral reforms. Replying to a question, he said President Ashraf Ghani was a better leader compared to his predecessor and during his tenure Pak-Afghan ties would improve.