Pakistan could be a target of war after Iraq, Musharraf warned

ISLAMABAD, January 19 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said there was an “impending danger” of Pakistan becoming a target of war for “Western forces” after the Iraq crisis.

Addressing a meeting of businessmen and industrialists in Lahore on Saturday, January 19, Musharraf said it was being speculated that Pakistan would become the target of “western forces” after the Iraq crisis and there were chances of such an eventuality.

“We will have to work on our own to stave off the danger. Nobody will come to our rescue, not even the Islamic world.

“We will have to depend on our muscle”, Musharraf was quoted as saying by the Indian daily Hindustan Times on Sunday, January 19.

The statement is seen here as an “extraordinary observation” as he spoke not only of crisis similar to Iraq, but even expressed doubts about “western forces”.

Americans in Pakistan Are Our Brothers

On the Taliban and Al-Qaeda regrouping, Musharraf said “some foreigners in Pakistan are harming U.S. interests here though we take them as brothers.”

Musharraf also appealed to Pakistanis to shun extremism.

“Muslims are suffering everywhere but in the hour of the need no one would help us because everyone has his own interests.

“We will have to be a very moderate county not with a confrontationist approach but with liberal mind.”

He said he wanted U.S. troops to stay in Afghanistan to improve the security in that war-torn country.

“I think the U.S. for the time being should stay for the stability of Afghanistan which would ultimately benefit Pakistan.

“All the gas and oil pipelines would pass through Pakistan once peace is restored in Afghanistan,” Musharraf said.

Musharraf’s statements about a post-Saddam Iraq arouse a lot of speculations about the nature of Islamabad's relations with the “western forces” in general and the United States in particular.

Washington has considered Pakistan one of its closest allies in the war against terrorism, given its strategic position bordering Afghanistan and full-fledged support for the Americans in this respect.

The firm backing given to Bush by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has allowed Islamabad to make a spectacular return to U.S. grace as a strategic ally. Its past support for the Taliban and the continuing presence in Pakistan of powerful radical movements, including Al-Qaeda members, leave lingering suspicions, however.