Musharraf breaks vital ground

In his first exclusive one-on-one comments made after the much-awaited January 12 address to the nation, General Pervez Musharraf annunciated the parameters he set out for himself.

"I wanted to address issues bedeviling Pakistani society and focus on priorities, confront internal problems damaging Pakistan's image internationally and raise the morale of the Pakistani nation and, lastly, lay out support for the Kashmiri people without it being labelled as cross-border terrorism or compromising Pakistan's sovereignty and self-respect, that is a good enough signal to India that I wanted to pursue the peaceful route in Kashmir but I wanted them to clearly understand that they could not bully us, we were ready to fight if we had to".

Given that it was not only a national but a worldwide audience, he explained how there was " no room for vacillation or empty rhetoric."

"I had my work cut out for me," he said.

A day earlier, he believes the Indians had tried to provoke him through a press briefing by the Indian Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Padmanabhan in which he threatened Pakistan with nuclear extermination. But he refused to rise to the bait.

Musharraf said: "Militarily I can equate my speech as walking across a minefield to attack an objective, to capture vital ground, the visible fire of the enemy's small arms and artillery not the only danger but also the invisible mines planted by the enemy just beneath the surface. I had to keep my cool."

Positive reactions

With positive reactions flowing in from within the country and from outside, afterwards, even the Indians gave grudging acceptance. Pervez Musharraf clearly achieved his "vital ground" – credibility in the comity of nations, quite something for any Pakistani leader.

The President said, "the objectives of various Jehadi outfits are individually selfish rather than for the community good, they grandstand on primetime TV and exhort their followers to fight for the Taliban but showed discretion to be the better part of valour in not crossing the Durand Line themselves. No effort was made by the religious leaders to secure the safe repatriation of their followers, who were betrayed by those they had volunteered to support. Many died, many are still missing".

The President added, "this saddened me but solidified my resolve. Extremist rhetoric has done far more damage to Pakistan's image and credibility than any enemy propaganda or action, their militancy is far more evident within the country than abroad.

"A vocal, militant minority is holding the great silent majority within the country hostage, and the net result is the disintegration of the social fabric and a severe dampening of the morale of the vast majority. With our previous leaders disinterested in addressing difficult issues and incompetent in confronting "special interest groups", this discouraged both their subordinates and the masses."

"A religious minority were fomenting anarchy in default of good governance, after September 11 the world had lost patience with the state of our internal affairs encroaching upon world peace. Above all this was damaging our Kashmir cause," he said.

Much of the 90 minutes with the President during this hour of crisis was spent on events and aspirations, a "primer" in character building and leadership training.

The President talked about his passion to succeed, but qualified that it must be "in a fair manner, with the resilience to overcome setbacks, motivating subordinates to achieving the necessary aims and objectives, my willingness to work hard, ability to confront challenge, penchant to select capable subordinates and sack the incapable ones, willingness to learn, ability to shun personal ego and pride, and lastly courage to believe in his own destiny."

About his destiny the President displayed a touch of emotion. Pointing to a small marble plaque on his study table, he read out the words etched on the surface, the original written on the night of August 11, 1998, in his own hand on his official letter pad in Mangla when he was Commander 1 Corps.

"My Prayer" is the title. The words: "O Allah, The only thing I can promise to my Army and my Nation is sincerity, honesty, integrity and unflinching loyalty; You give me, the vision to see and perceive the truth from the false, the wisdom to comprehend the problem and find a solution, the courage to speak and project, and the clarity to express the right, the chance to serve the nation as I deserve."

General Musharraf further said: "What passed for democracy in Pakistan earlier was a sham, it permitted all sorts of evil to permeate into the system."

"Having seen the quality and commitment of the District Nazims, there is hope for the future", he said, adding the "field test and trials" will be two or three elections after which the system will become feasible. "Ultimately the will of the people must be supreme," he said.

When I mentioned an idea to hold "run-off" elections, he said, "Gen Naqvi had also recommended it, the only drawback is the expense factor (of another election) will favour the richer candidate, but I will give it more consideration."

On Lincoln

Dwelling on great American president like Abraham Lincoln, he brought out an extract from Richard Nixon from his book Leaders. And read from a telling passage "Lincoln's consuming passion during the time of crisis (the American Civil War 1861-65) was to preserve the Union.

Towards that end he trampled individual liberties. His justification was necessity. Explaining his sweeping violation of constitutional limits, Abraham Lincoln wrote in a letter in 1864: My oath to preserve the Constitution imposed on me the duty of preserving by every indispensable means that government, that nation, of which the Constitution was the organic law.

"Was it possible to lose the nation and yet preserve the Constitution? By general law life and limb must be protected, yet often a limb must be amputated to save a life, but a life is never wisely given to save a limb.

"I felt that measures, otherwise unconstitutional, might become lawful by becoming indispensable to the preservation of the Constitution through the preservation of the nation. Right or wrong, I assumed this ground and now avow it", he read and then laughing, hoped that this would not be misconstrued.

"The period after October 12, 2002 is of great concern to me, not only to maintain the momentum of reforms enacted but to sustain continuity. I want to strike the right balance so that the system cannot be manipulated by any individual's discretion for his own selfish, personal motives. I am confident about taking bold decisions, because I have no skeletons in my cupboard, I can look you in the eye!".

"I have to be very conscious of the country's interest", the President said. "I have to be very careful what I discuss with world leaders because they will carry an image of the country back with them. There will be a great damage to the nation if anyone carries an unfavourable opinion of the country's leader.

"Since I need to have good knowledge I am not embarrassed to learn from my colleagues about issues that I myself have no prior know