“Pak Army always in favour of resolution of all disputes including Kashmir”: Musharraf

WASHINGTON - Despite the Pakistan military being perceived as “intransigent” by the world, it has always been in favour of resolution of all disputes, including Kashmir, former military ruler Pervez Musharraf has said.

In an interview on National Public Radio, Musharraf said, “The problem is every time a civilian government comes, they will conveniently put the blame on the military. This is not at all the case. [The] military is always in favour of resolution of all the disputes, including Kashmir.”

“Unfortunately, the world has been told that it is the Pakistan military which is very intransigent.

They have been told that their attitude is because they’ll lose in importance. That is not at all the case - they will not lose in importance as long as Indian forces are poised against Pakistan,” he added.

The former president said that it was not an issue of resolution of the dispute, but “an issue of a reality on [the] ground, where Indian forces are poised against Pakistan’s borders. As long as that stays. Pakistan’s military significance will always stay.”

Talking about chances for peace in his country, he noted, “”Peace will not come that easily. One is the resolution of disputes; the other is the forced differential, and the orientation of Indian armed forces entirely against Pakistan.”

“If that be the case, even if you have peace and resolve disputes, but if Pakistan sees 80 percent of Indian forces - army, navy, air force -oriented toward Pakistan, well, that is a serious issue,” he added.

The APML leader went on to say that any ’sensible’ government would “also counter that with a force oriented to the eastern border. And this is exactly what’s been done since 1948… to deter aggression by India. Which is three times more than Pakistan. The army is three times more; the air force is maybe five times more. The navy is maybe five or six times more…”

Commenting on his role in talks with India over the Kashmir issue, Musharraf said, “I was certainly trying for it [peace]. And we were reaching success.

I have always praised (Indian) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his sincerity to reach peace. And we almost reached peace on all the three issues…the third one, Kashmir, we had made some certain parameters and we were moving forward towards drafting an agreement. Unfortunately, that was not to be, but I tried my best.” (ANI)