Musharraf rules out compromise on Kashmir

President General Pervez Musharraf said on Thursday that there could be no compromise on occupied Kashmir, but "we have to resolve the occupied Kashmir dispute with India in a peaceful manner".
"We have to bring harmony to the region, it will be beneficial to us, to India as well as to the region," he said in his address to the participants of the Third National Security workshop here at the National Defence College (NDC).
He said occupied Kashmir is a vital national interest, and "I will be the last man to compromise on vital national interests. That cannot be done."
Speaking less than a week ahead of talks with India, President Musharraf underlined the need to move beyond putting in place the confidence-building measures (CBMs), as "there is a relationship between going forward on the CBMs and the dialogue process, including occupied Kashmir."
The NDC conducts these workshops regularly to brief political leaders, senior bureaucrats, businessmen and technocrats on national security policy objectives. In his wide ranging address the president also spoke on nuclear proliferation imbroglio and the menace of religious extremism.
The president rejected the thesis that Pakistan was exclusively responsible for illegal nuclear proliferation. "Everything did not happen from Pakistan. Everything happened from many other countries," he said.
He said Pakistan was worried about this misperception and would like to correct it by taking corrective measures. "We need to correct our house. We are a responsible nation, we must not proliferate," he said.
Another misperception about Pakistan, he said, stemmed out from the misplaced notion that ours was a religiously extremist society. "We may be religious, but we are not extremists," he said.
Indeed, Pakistan came into being as an Islamic state, President Musharraf said adding, "Nobody can change our identity. Pakistan came into being on the basis of two-nation theory, for a separate homeland for the Muslims. God created Pakistan and I am sure he will protect Pakistan."
He regretted that a small minority of extremists was damaging Pakistan, as they wanted to destabilise the country internally. This group needed to be sorted out, he said.
President Musharraf reiterated Pakistan's firm resolve to stamp out foreign elements who try to misuse Pakistan's territory to project their own agendas.
It's policy of enlightened moderation offers Pakistan the opportunity to play its role in world peace, he said, asking other Muslim countries to reject extremism and focus on socio-economic development of their people.
The president also called upon the West to help in resolving "with justice" the political disputes concerning the Muslim countries and help them in achieving economic emancipation.