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No guarantee on stopping infiltration: Musharraf

June 26, 2003 14:43 IST

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has said that Pakistan has done 'all it can' to control cross-border terrorism and rein in extremist organisations but could give no guarantee on ending infiltration across the Line of Control.

"We have at the government level ensured that nothing ought to be happening on the LoC. I can't answer how much infiltration is going on. I don't know. For me, there is no infiltration. Pakistan has done all that it can do (to stop infiltration)," Musharraf, who is on an official visit to the US, said in an interview to the Washington Post.

"If somebody is to ask me to give a guarantee that nothing is happening across the Line of Control, I will not do that. I cannot."

"Pakistan cannot be held responsible to ensure, to guarantee that not a bird will fly across the LoC. It is not possible," he said adding sealing the border was 'not possible'.

On the crackdown on militant outfits by his government, he said groups like the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad, 'who were creating apprehension in the minds of India and the world', have been banned.

"Their offices, including in Kashmir (Pakistan-occupied Kashmir), have been sealed and closed. Their accounts have been frozen. Nobody before this could have touched them," said Musharraf asserting that Pakistan was taking 'strong action' against the Al Qaeda, Taliban supporters and religious extremists in the country.

On the possibility of a war with India, he said, "I think no leader in his right mind will go to war."

Musharraf described the border tensions between the two neighbours as a 'strategy of coercion' being applied on Pakistan.

Apart from the fact that a decision on war was a difficult decision for any leader to take, he said the military balance between India and Pakistan and his country's strategy of 'minimum deterrence' ruled out the possibility of war.

Musharraf expressed concern over Indian activities in Afghanistan and said it was 'upsetting' to Pakistan.

"India's motivation in Afghanistan is very clear: nothing further than upsetting Pakistan," Musharraf told the Post.

"Why should they have consulates in Jalalabad and Kandahar? What is their interest? There is no interest other than disturbing Pakistan, doing something against Pakistan," he said.

He asserted that there was 'no dispute or disparity' with the Afghan leadership on India's role in that country.

Musharraf said Afghan President Hamid Karzai had assured him he will not allow his country to be used against Pakistan.

More reports from Pakistan


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