Islamabad(IANS) : President Pervez Musharraf has blamed US and other western powers of being partly responsible for the current political crisis in Pakistan.
In an expansive interview, Musharraf, who was sworn in as the country’s civilian president Thursday for a term of five years after shedding his military uniform, maintained that if the coming elections created a situation that was “unacceptable” to him he would step down.
“If the situation develops in a manner which is absolutely unacceptable to me, I have a choice of leaving,” he said in an interview to ABC, reports Dawn.
Musharraf, who is a strong US ally in its “war on terror”, said that Washington should blame its own inconsistent policies for failing to achieve the desired results in this war.
“If there’s a failure, it’s not Pakistan’s failure,” the president replied when asked why his government failed to root out Al Qaeda and Taliban militants from the tribal region.
Pakistan, he said, had been struggling against radicalism and terror for 30 years.
“We are fighting terrorism everywhere. We have gone through 30 years of turmoil. We cooperate very well. So if there’s a failure, it’s not Pakistan’s failure. Please don’t accuse us.”
The US, he said, turned a blind eye to terrorism until Sep 11, 2001. “We handled the situation alone for 12 years,” he added.
Musharraf, however, refused to say what he would do with Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden if bin Laden was captured in Pakistan.
On whether he would enter into a power-sharing arrangement with Pakistan Peoples Party chairperson Benazir Bhutto, Musharraf said: “I’m not into any deal with anyone. We are in a stage where we have to have free, fair and transparent elections. We have to see, after the election, how things develop.”
He insisted that measures like the imposition of emergency were taken in response to the “opposition’s tactics”.
“The opposition, have all along these five years tried to destabilise me and the government. You have to understand… we don’t want agitation here… Agitation means breaking down everything, burning things. That cannot be allowed.”
Musharraf was firm that he would not allow political protests even after withdrawing some of the restrictions imposed Nov 3.
“So, therefore, if anyone is trying to do that, we will stop it. That is the way it is in Pakistan.”