Ex-leader Musharraf wants Pakistan to recognise Israel

ISLAMABAD, Jan 10: Pakistan’s former military dictator, General Pervez Musharraf’s call for recognizing Israel—which according to him, is in the country’s interest—has invoked widespread criticism from political and religious parties.

Musharraf is an admirer of Ariel Sharon, the former prime minister of the Zionist state

“No patriotic Pakistani can even think to recognize the Zionist state, which has been created on the dead bodies of Palestinians”, Syed Munawwar Hassan, chief of Jammat-e-Islami, one of the largest Islamic parties in Pakistan, told Islam Online, while reacting to Musharraf’s interview with Israeli newspaper Haaretz in London last Saturday.

In his interview, the General contended that getting closer to Israel would be in the better interest of Pakistan, and it could help muster the support of the powerful Jewish lobby with a view to resolving the Kashmir dispute with India.

Musharraf, whose warrants have been issued by a Pakistani court for his involvement in the assassination of two-time premier Benazir Bhutto, admitted that during his reign i.e. from October 1999 to August 2008, he defied the popular sentiment in Pakistan when he shook hands with former Israeli Prime Minister Aerial Sharon at the United Nations, and then sent the then Foreign Minister Khursheed Mahmood Kasuri, who has recently joined hands with cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan, to meet the then Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom in Istanbul.

Musharraf was the first Pakistani leader who was invited to address the influential World Jewish Congress in the US in 2005.

“Israel is an illegitimate state, which has been established with the help of US and other Western powers on Palestinian land”, Munawwar said commenting on Musharraf’s contention that both Pakistan and Israel are ideological states.

“There is no comparison between Pakistan and Israel. Pakistan has been established on the basis of principles and sacrifices of hundreds of thousands of Muslims, whereas Jews from all over the world were gathered to usurp Palestinian land”, he maintained.

Musharraf who plans to return to Pakistan in late January 2012, also said that he was a fan of Aerial Sharon, who is responsible for thousands of deaths in Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon in 1982.

“Musharraf’s statement in favor of the killer of thousands of innocent men, women and children, has shocked not only Palestinians, but the entire Muslim world”, Munawwar maintained.

harakah daily ( English ) @ POST ON 11 Januari 2012