Islamabad: Former President Pervez
Musharraf has described as a "mistake" his decision to
promulgate the National Reconciliation Ordinance, a graft
amnesty that was recently struck down by Pakistan's Supreme
Court.
The apex court last week declared the NRO void,
sparking the worst political crisis since the Pakistan
People's Party came to power in last year's general election.
President Asif Ali Zardari and several close aides are
among the over 8,000 people who benefited from the graft
amnesty.
"The one clarification that I will make is that I
committed this mistake on the strong advice of the political
leadership at that time who are now blatantly disowning
connections with it.
"My interest was only national, with absolutely no
personal bias or agenda," Musharraf wrote on his page on the
social networking website Facebook.
Musharraf – who has been active on Facebook for the
past few weeks and has over 60,000 fans, including hundreds
from India – was responding to a question.
The former military ruler took time off to respond to
three questions from the public, including what compelled him
to promulgate the NRO in October 2007.
He said he would have to a keep a more detailed
response pending for the time being "because of certain
political sensitivities".
However, Musharraf promised that he would "take the
nation on board at the appropriate time".
To a related question about the NRO bringing "corrupt
politicians to power" and allowing Zardari to be elected
President, Musharraf wrote: "NRO may have allowed Asif Zardari
or corrupt politicians to contest elections but it certainly
was not the cause of their coming to power. NRO is not
responsible for electing the PPP as the majority party or
allowing Asif Zardari to win an election.
"NRO is not responsible for corrupt politicians
sitting in assemblies, or being appointed as ministers. All
this happened through the votes of the people of Pakistan.
NRO is not responsible for all parliamentarians of provincial
and national assemblies and Senate having overwhelmingly voted
for Asif Zardari as President," he said.
"The nation has to learn to cast their votes for the
right person and the right party," he added.
Musharraf also defended the military operation against
radical elements who had holed up in the Lal Masjid in
Islamabad.
"The Lal Masjid operation is a case study of how an
appropriately timed, meticulously planned and boldly executed
operation launched in the supreme national interest can be
distorted by vested interests who want to present it as a
disaster," he wrote.
He said claims that hundreds of innocent people were
killed were an "absolute lie".
Musharraf said: "Firstly, none of those killed were
innocent. They were terrorists (including five foreigners) who
took the law in their own hands and killed a number of
policemen, kidnapped and physically tortured Chinese
citizens...
"Secondly, the numbers killed were 94 and not a single
woman or child was killed. This can be ascertained by digging
their graves and counting," he said.
According to Musharraf, the siege of Lal Masjid and
its affiliated seminary Jamia Hafsa was started about six
months before the operation in July 2007.
"The operation was launched only after all efforts
towards a negotiated settlement failed and maximum occupants,
including all women and children, were drawn out. The
individuals left were all hardened terrorists, including five
foreigners, who refused to surrender and decided to fight it
out."
In response to another question whether there was a
way in the post-9/11 era for Pakistan to handle the US and the
Taliban, Musharraf wrote: "I think we dealt with both in the
best possible manner under the most difficult circumstances.
With regards to the US, the big question after 9/11
was whether to join the coalition or not, Musharraf said.
The Americans had decided they were going to attack
Afghanistan, and because of geographic compulsions, the attack
was most likely going to come from the east.
The positives of joining the coalition far outweighed
the negatives of not joining.
"Imagine what would have happened, had we not joined
the coalition? The attack would have still taken place using
bases provided by our neighbour, jeopardizing our territorial
integrity. The flow of Al Qaida and Taliban into Pakistan and
the spreading of obscurantist Talibanisation into our country
would have happened at a much greater scale. This was
certainly not in our own interest," he said.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, December 22, 2009, 15:12