Internews/New York
Former Pakistani military ruler General (retd) Pervez Musharraf is bitter about President Asif Zardari and in an interview with journalist Seymour Hersh has called him a “criminal”, a “fraud” and a “third rater”.
Hersh, in a detailed report on Pakistan, writes: “Musharraf did not spare his successor. ‘Asif Zardari is a criminal and a fraud. He’ll do anything to save himself. He’s not a patriot and he’s got no love for Pakistan. He’s a third-rater’.”
Musharraf said that he and General Kayani, who had been his nominee for chief of army staff, were still in telephonic contact. He said he didn’t think the army was capable of mutiny – not the army he knew.
“There are people with fundamentalist ideas in the army, but I don’t think there is any possibility of these people getting organised and doing an uprising. These ‘fundos’ are disliked and not popular.”
Musharraf said: “The Muslims think highly of Obama, and he should use his acceptability – even with the Taliban – and try to deal with them politically.” He spoke of two prior attempts to create a fundamentalist uprising in the army. In both the cases, he said, the officers involved were arrested and prosecuted. “I created the strategic force that controls all the strategic assets — 18,000 to 20,000 strong. They are monitored for character and for potential fundamentalism,” he said.
He acknowledged, however, that things had changed since he’d left office. “People have become alarmed because of the Taliban and what they have done,” he said. “Everyone is now alarmed.”
Hersh said Musharraf lives in unpretentious exile with his wife in an apartment in London, near Hyde Park.
Officials who had dealt with him cautioned that, along with his many faults, he had a disarmingly open manner.
“At the beginning of our talk, I asked him why, on a visit to Washington in late January, he had not met with any senior Obama administration officials. ‘I did not ask for a meeting because I was afraid of being told no,’ he said.”
At another point, Musharraf, dressed casually in slacks and a sports shirt, said that he had been troubled by the American-controlled drone attacks on targets inside Pakistan. “I said to the Americans, ‘Give us the Predators.’ It was refused. I told the Americans, ‘Then just say publicly that you’re giving them to us. You keep on firing them but put Pakistan Air Force markings on them.’ That, too, was denied.”
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