Which is first chicken or egg? Musharraf wants Kashmir resolution first before end of terrorism and India wants end of terrorism before any resolution on Kashmir
Sonia Joshi
Aug. 14, 2005

Pakistan and India keep rattling the Kashmir front. And now Musharraf has come out with a new statement. He wants egg before chicken. He wants Kashmir resolution first before any action to reduce terror in Kashmir. But India is adamant, for even continuing to talk to Musharraf regime, India wants Musharraf to stop cross border terrorism.

According to media reports, reiterating that improving relations with India is of prime importance to him, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf today said that if the two countries moved faster towards the resolution of Kashmir, he would be in a stronger position to deal with extremism.

"I see the sincerity of the Indian leadership. But if we can move faster towards a resolution of Kashmir my hands will be stronger to deal with extremism," he said. Gen Musharraf, whose sincerity in cracking down on terrorism in his country has been severely doubted, said the situation had changed and he found himself much stronger to handle the menance.

"The situation is now far different from what I faced before. Now I am much stronger," he said.

After the 7/7 bombings in London, Gen Musharraf promised another crackdown against the extremists and arrested 800 militants while asking 1,400 foreign students attending madrassas (Islamic schools) to leave the country.

However, with many such crackdowns having already been carried out and extremism only gaining ground, he admitted that earlier his hands were tied, either because of the 10-month-long border stand-off with India in 2002, the last general elections or political insecurities at home and abroad.

He has told the police and the concerned Ministries that the government was serious about a crackdown on those banned extremist groups who have re-emerged under a new name, besides the closure of all publications propagating "hate", creating a new syllabus for the madrassas and their registration by December.

The registration of Pakistan's 15,000 madrassas was announced in January 2002, but barely a few hundred registered. "This time those madrassas who don''t register by December will be shut down," he told The Telegraph.

"I have told the Indians we can only control the extremists to a degree. But there will be nowhere for the extremists to go once there is a settlement on Kashmir,” he pointed out. He said the Pakistani government would no longer distinguish between "terrorists", Pakistanis linked to Al-Qaeda or other international terrorist groups who have been vigorously pursued and arrested, and Islamic "extremists".

He denied that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) still backed the Taliban and its officers dealing with Afghanistan had been changed "two or three times" since 2001 and nobody was left from the old guard who might have ideological affiliations with the Taliban.

"All this talk about the ISI being a government within a government is wrong. There is no government within a government. There is only one government," he said.

While he said the Taliban resistance was being generated from inside Afghanistan, he admitted that there were some Taliban elements clandestinely based in Pakistan who were crossing the border. He accused extremist elements belonging to the Jamaat-e Ulema Islam, of allowing these Taliban to use sanctuaries inside Pakistan.

Which is first chicken or egg? Musharraf wants Kashmir resolution first before end of terrorism and India wants end of terrorism before any resolution on Kashmir
Sonia Joshi
Pakistan and India keep rattling the Kashmir front.
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