Can’t end terror camps in Pak: Musharraf

Former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, who is currently living in exile in the UAE, has said that it is difficult to control terrorism and end terror camps operating in his country.

Zeenews Bureau

New Delhi: Former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, who is currently living in exile in the UAE, has said that it is difficult to control terrorism and end terror camps operating in his country.

In an interview to a private TV news channel, former Pakistan President expressed concerns over the rise in militancy in Kashmir and linked it to the pullout of the US-led coalition forces from Afghanistan,

Musharraf, who had earlier announced that he would return to Pakistan later this month to take part in parliamentary elections, warned that consequences of US troops’ pullout would be dangerous for both Pakistan and India.

When quizzed about his earlier commitment to the world that he would not allow Pakistani soil to be used for anti-India activities, he said that the situation is fast slipping from hands and it is growing increasingly difficult to control insurgency.
“It`s a very difficult situation that we will face.. We are already facing. When this freedom struggle in Kashmir started in 1989, which you call insurgency of course, then there were multiple. There were dozens of Mujahideen groups which erupted inside Pakistan. Now these volunteers were massive. It was not that this is one organisation which is immediately controllable,” Musharraf was quoted as saying.

Musharraf, 69, has been living in exile in Britain and the UAE since he resigned as the president in August 2008, fearing impeachment by Parliament.

He had earlier on a few occasions announced he would end his exile but postponed the plans over concerns at his possible arrest in connection with the 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

The current National Assembly or lower house of Pakistani Parliament will be dissolved on completion of its five-year term and new elections will be held within two months.
The former army chief who seized power in a coup in 1999 had said he would face courts on return and did not care if there was a threat to his life.

In 2011, an anti-terrorism court issued an arrest warrant for Musharraf in connection with the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in a bomb blast. In October 2012, a court issued a warrant for his arrest over the killing of Baloch leader Akbar Bugti in a military operation in 2006.

Musharraf denies all charges and said he will defend himself in courts.

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