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If you had received two votes more, you could have been prime minister of Pakistan
instead of Mir Zaffarullah Jamali. Do you regret missing the opportunity?
(Laughs) No, I do not regret losing to Jamali. In fact, when he was
elected prime minister of Pakistan, I was the first to go across and
congratulate him. I assured him of the full support of my party.
Instead of coming to Delhi, you first went to Deoband [in Uttar
Pradesh, where one of India's most famous Islamic seminaries is located].
Don't you think that was unusual?
Nothing unusual as far as I am concerned. I am not saying
anything beyond that.
You are known for your hardline views on Afghanistan and led demonstrations
against President Pervez Musharraf when he offered to support America in
Afghanistan?
We are
against American expansionism. We are against the use of power against the
innocent people of Afghanistan and Iraq. Though the United States has been
saying that Al Qaeda was behind the terrorist attacks on America on September
11, 2001, the investigations are far from complete. No evidence has emerged
that links Al Qaeda with the terrorist attacks in the US. Then why was a nation
so heavily punished and bombarded by the Americans? They have taken over that
country. They have installed their own man, Hamid Karzai, as president of
Afghanistan.
The same thing happened in the case of Iraq. The CIA [Central Intelligence Agency]
says that it has no evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and yet
the Americans and British bombarded that country and took it over. India and
Pakistan should work together to put an end to this American expansionism. Who
knows where they would come next.
You are credited
for founding the Taliban movement?
I deny this charge. This is a creation of the media and I
have nothing to do with the Taliban. The Taliban were those who brought peace
to Afghanistan and now the people of Afghanistan are asking where have those
who brought peace in the state gone?
Where has all the venom that you spewed against India
gone?
The world has changed and we have to change too. Let us talk
of peace and co-existence rather than of things in the past that are no longer
relevant.
Why this sudden change?
This change is not sudden and it has come over the years.
India and Pakistan must realize that if they keep on fighting like this, the
Americans would benefit from our fights.
Do you feel the Simla Agreement could be the basis for
finding a solution to the Kashmir problem?
I am convinced the Simla Agreement is the only framework of
its kind through which the Kashmir problem that has been nagging both the
countries can be sorted out. There should be no preconditions for starting a
dialogue. India says remove the Mujahideen and Pakistan says the Indian Army
should be removed. If one of the two takes place, then the Kashmir problem
would automatically get solved.
Why is Islamic fundamentalism growing around the world?
Islam does not preach violence. Fundamentalism could breed
in any part of the world. In India you have Hindu fundamentalists like the
Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad. You have fundamentalists amongst
Christians and Jews and so on.
You have not condemned the violence in Kashmir.
I do not support violence. Violence will end if the Kashmir problem is sorted
out once and for all. Since the governments do not attend to the problems of
the people soon and tend to prolong their miseries, there comes a stage when
people get sick and tired of assurances and take things into their own hands.
They pick up arms and that is why violence begins. The culture of violence
would end if governments discharge their responsibilities.
Surely you can help by
using your influence and talking to the jihadi parties to rein in the
terrorists.
There is an 800-mile long
control line, and you have an Army of seven lakh soldiers stationed in Kashmir.
Why should you expect only us to stop them? What is your Army doing if these
people manage to smuggle into India from the other side? Why do you put all the
blame and hold only Pakistan responsible for this? Pakistan should stop them,
and if we can’t, then we are to blame, but are your seven lakh troops sitting
there helplessly?
You are considered the father of the Taliban.
That is the impression created by your media.
We are saying this on
the strength of the Pakistani media. How has this change from hawk to dove come
about?
Laughs) When Iraq was
attacked, we led demonstrations and protests saying this is not correct. But no
one called me the father of Saddam. Despite all this, the fact remains that we
have a Constitution in Pakistan, and we always adhere to that. We are
democrats. We have all along participated in political agitations. We have
always participated in elections. Whenever we have reached the National
Assembly and the Provincial Assemblies, it has been through the vote of the
Pakistani people. Even today, if we are participating in the political process
in our country, it is thanks to the mandate we have. Please assess us by our
standards and not by standards set out by others.
Is the charge that
even now some of your people in NWFP and Baluchistan have links with the
Taliban and Al Qaeda, sheer American propaganda?
Even now we feel that there
was peace in Afghanistan during the Taliban and their government there should
not have ended. The attack on them was illegitimate and the unsubstantiated
charge of being responsible for 9\11by the CIA has not yet been proved by
anyone. Similarly, Iraq was attacked on the charge of possessing weapons of
mass destruction (WMDs), but so far nothing has been found. So these are some
of the pertinent questions. Besides, once the CIA admits that it provided wrong
information to Bush, isn’t that an admission of their guilt? If you level a
fair charge, there will be truthful registering of the FIR and fair
investigations will be conducted. All the people of the world should be treated
fairly and equally, and given all their fundamental rights,. instead of
allowing the powerful to dictate upon and suppress the weak and powerless by
calling them traitors and criminals. This attitude should not be there.
Your Shariat Bill has ensured that women do not get justice.
You tell me, do I appear
discriminatory against women? After all you are a woman sitting here talking to
me. This allegation that religion is narrow-minded and intolerant, what if we
turn around and allege that the secular world is intolerant towards religion.?
I would seek a review of this mindset. It is unfair on the part of the
secularists to keep attacking religion.
There are these
reports that Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar have been seen in Pakistan.
They are not in Pakistan.
Who says they are? We have not seen them.
Did President Musharraf support your visit to India?
No, this is entirely our personal and party initiative.
But how is the
relationship between your party and President Musharraf? Have you drawn closer
or are you still opposing him?
I am the leader of the
Opposition. I have to oppose him. But we have left behind our baggage of
differences with Pakistan government at the Wagah border and will pick it up
again when we cross back. Surely we are the Opposition and the main Opposition
in Pakistan, but we would not like to discuss our internal differences outside
the country.
(Source: Deccan Chronicle & Rediff.com)
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