By Muhammad Najeeb, IANS
Islamabad : Warning foreign powers against entering Pakistan to crush militancy, President Pervez Musharraf Thursday said the army was capable of fighting extremists.
“Let me make it clear that no one can dare enter the country until the Pakistan Army is there and it will be there for ever. Only the Pakistan Army will take action against militancy and extremism,” Musharraf said in weekly programme, “From the Presidency”, on the state-run television.
He said that newspapers, especially the international ones, were talking about security of Pakistan’s nuclear assets.
“There is a very strong mechanism of command and control for the nuclear safety… there is a proper command and I challenge that let me bring a bolt of some rifle from our control system… what to talk of nuclear assets,” he said adding that fears of the security of the country’s nuclear arsenal were unfounded.
He said if foreign powers want to stop “our grants, let them do so. We are not going to die. We can survive without the foreign aid.”
But he added that if they “stopped our aid, we will stop cooperation in every field”.
Musharraf said the elections scheduled for Feb 18 will be free and fair.
“We have installed the caretaker government and every step is being taken to ensure transparent polls. We have agreed to several demands by the political parties, but I can’t understand why they are crying on rigging even before the election has taken place.
“The army and paramilitary will be deployed in the country to maintain law and order and no one will be allowed to create trouble,” he said.
The president said that whoever wins the Feb 18 polls will form the next government.