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Musharraf: Deal with Taliban ridiculous
 Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has described a deal with local Taliban as 'ridiculous' while dismissing allegations against ISI. "It's really ridiculous to sign a deal with those who killed hundreds of army personnel in Swat," Musharraf told reporters in a press conference in Islamabad -- his first official-media appearance since his resignation last year. It's pretty ridiculous to complain about the occasional violation of national sovreignty by drones, pilotless or otherwise, while handing over judicial and de facto administrative sovreignty to a pickup team of turbans. He condemned a conspiracy against Pakistan's army and the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) as 'propaganda', saying such moves would harm international efforts against terrorism, a Press TV correspondent reported. "If Pakistan's army or the ISI were weakened due to certain conspiracies, the international community would lose the war on terror," he added. The statement comes from the former US -backed military ruler just hours after a deal was reached with Taliban militants in the Swat Valley permitting the militants to establish their own rule and court system in insurgency-hit Malakand Division in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) in the coming four to six months. Pervez Musharraf also denied allegations of adopting a double standard policy towards Taliban during his eight-and-half-year military rule, calling such allegations as distortion and fabrication of the facts. "I was not alone in whatever I did in my eight years, but the international alliance shared the same. Why no one made such allegations when I was in power," he said in a reference to recent media reports questioning his commitment to the so-called 'war on terror'. In late 2001, former President Musharraf joined the Bush administration's drive against terrorism and deployed thousands of Pakistani troops in rugged tribal regions bordering Afghanistan to hunt-down pro-Taliban and al-Qeada-linked insurgents. Posted by: Fred 2009-02-17 |
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