Pakistan nuke facilities safe - Musharraf

KARACHI: Former President Pervez Musharraf Wednesday said Pakistan would have been rated as a rouge country had he not plugged proliferation of nuclear technology and made it safe and secured.

The former general and commando was replying to a volley of questions from the media on Wednesday in a maiden press conference since he arrived here on Sunday after more than four years in self exile.

“Proliferation (of nuclear) took place before I came into the power and it (technology) was sent here and there that is why we were called a rouge state,” he said.

Mushrraf said that there was no financial or security control on the nuclear assets of the country before he came into power in 1999. He said that he created an army strategic unit comprising especial force of 18000 to 20,000 soldiers to safeguard the nuclear facilities of the country.

“We have dispersed the facility in a way that if there is an attack it would not be harmed at all,”

Musharraf said that there were evil eyes on the nuclear capability of the country whereas extremists also aspired to have an access.

“Yes, if they are elected into power then nobody could do anything (about nuclear misuse).

Musharaf has come to take part in the elections due in May and vowed to end the political status quo in the country. He said his party would field candidates from all over the country and only election result would decide his political role in the country.

The retired general was optimistic that his party would win considerable seats in the election, though he would not make any tall claims.

“I am not saying I am bringing in any Tusnami in the country as the people claim, but we would work hard to bring change in the current dismal political scene,” Musharraf said referring to a cliché that Imran Khan frequently use in his speeches.

He said that the nation had suffered a lot during the three terms of the two political parties and they had endured enough that they might have been looking for a third force.

“I am hopeful that the nation must have awakened in past five years and they must be thinking of bringing a third political force into power,” Musharraf said but added “if still they chose the same tested people then I would bid good luck to the country”.

The former president said he would himself contest elections from Chitral and Karachi, the stronghold of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) an old ally to Musharraf during his term in power since 1999 till 2008.

“I probably contest from Karachi and obvious there is MQM with which I have very old relations and that were since 1999,” he said and added “my colleagues were consulting in this regard.

Musharraf said he had not enough time to devise election strategy so he was not sure as how many seats, he would be able to secure but said his hopes were good.

“I can’t tell definite number but our candidates are contesting from all the four provinces and I hope that we would win quite good numbers of the seats,” he said.

To a question he said he did not come to serve his own interests in the country as he was leading a complacent and respected life in foreign countries but it was his pain for the nation which brought him back home.

He said that there were many examples in the history in which the army men who joined politics turned their countries around.

“General (Charles) De Gaulle became one of the prominent politicians of France and so was Gen Eisenhower so just forget about military men and politicians,” he said replying to a question

When asked whether he regretted Kargil war he replied with a big no.

“When I joined army, I did so to fight with the enemy not to wear bangles and sit at home,” he said

He said Kargil was a great military success that was turned into defeat by the political government.

“We clutched the enemy from the neck, let me tell you cutting off all their supplies but our military success was transformed into political defeat,” he sentimentally said.