karachi
MPA (400+ posts)
Former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf told a students gathering at Brown University in Providence (Rhode Island, NY) on Tuesday that terrorists were the greatest threat to stability in South Asia, adding that Pakistan, neighbouring India and Afghanistan represented a nexus of extremism.
Gen (retd) Musharraf also rejected a perception that Pakistan supplied arms to Muslim fundamentalists in Afghanistan.
Its quite the opposite. The arms and money flow into Pakistan from Afghanistan, not the other way, he said.
The retired general pointed to the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) as an example of extremism growing among the Muslim youth in India.
There is a sense of frustration of unequal opportunity and discrimination in India, he said.
In a 45-minute speech about leadership experiences, he blamed the current economic crisis in Pakistan on the countrys current leaders
Its not a crisis of nation or people, but a crisis of leadership. Simple as that, Gen (retd) Musharraf said of the massive exodus of wealth and foreign investment from the country in the past year.
In a brief question-and-answer session, Musharraf defended Pakistans development of nuclear arms as a logical response to Indias development of nuclear weapons, but called for peace between the two longstanding rivals.
I am called a man of war, but I am a man of peace because I understand the ravages of war, he said. Military (action) only buys time, it does not deliver the cure.
Musharraf is in USA on a 40-lectures speaking tour, using London as his base.
The main auditorium at the univiersity was filled to capacity with about 600 seated, and a nearby overflow room, where the speech was televised, had about 200 additional guests.
The former president will meet privately with US lawmakers on September 29 to discuss the changing US strategy for fighting the war in Afghanistan, according to an email obtained by AFP Wednesday.
Representative Steve Buyer, the top Republican on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, has invited fellow lawmakers to sit down with Musharraf, according to the message from his legislative director
Gen (retd) Musharraf also rejected a perception that Pakistan supplied arms to Muslim fundamentalists in Afghanistan.
Its quite the opposite. The arms and money flow into Pakistan from Afghanistan, not the other way, he said.
The retired general pointed to the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) as an example of extremism growing among the Muslim youth in India.
There is a sense of frustration of unequal opportunity and discrimination in India, he said.
In a 45-minute speech about leadership experiences, he blamed the current economic crisis in Pakistan on the countrys current leaders
Its not a crisis of nation or people, but a crisis of leadership. Simple as that, Gen (retd) Musharraf said of the massive exodus of wealth and foreign investment from the country in the past year.
In a brief question-and-answer session, Musharraf defended Pakistans development of nuclear arms as a logical response to Indias development of nuclear weapons, but called for peace between the two longstanding rivals.
I am called a man of war, but I am a man of peace because I understand the ravages of war, he said. Military (action) only buys time, it does not deliver the cure.
Musharraf is in USA on a 40-lectures speaking tour, using London as his base.
The main auditorium at the univiersity was filled to capacity with about 600 seated, and a nearby overflow room, where the speech was televised, had about 200 additional guests.
The former president will meet privately with US lawmakers on September 29 to discuss the changing US strategy for fighting the war in Afghanistan, according to an email obtained by AFP Wednesday.
Representative Steve Buyer, the top Republican on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, has invited fellow lawmakers to sit down with Musharraf, according to the message from his legislative director
