UAE: Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf hails killing of Osama bin Laden as victory for Pakistani people

Record ID: 1539792

  • Title: UAE: Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf hails killing of Osama bin Laden as victory for Pakistani people
  • Date: 3rd May 2011
  • Summary: CLOSE OF METAL ORNAMENT ON THE TABLE (SOUNDBITE) (English) PAKISTAN FORMER MILITARY RULER PERVEZ MUSHARRAF, SAYING: "Well I think (the U.S.) withdrawing, leaving or quitting or staying, the impact of this one action is very simplistic view of the whole issue. I would put it like this: good battle won, but the war against terror continues, the war has not ended. The war doesn't end with one victory in a battle so a victory, a battle one but the war continues." STUFFED BIRD ORNAMENT ON THE TABLE NEXT TO MUSHARRAF MUSHARRAF'S HANDS (SOUNDBITE) (English) PAKISTAN FORMER MILITARY RULER PERVEZ MUSHARRAF, SAYING: "I would say it was an intelligent act (Bin Laden's hideout), generally one feels that, closer to this cantonment, maybe that is why we were complacent, it led to complacency within intelligence because certainly it is a failure in intelligence not to have known that." VARIOUS OF PAKISTAN'S FLAG ON THE WALL BEHIND MUSHARRAF (SOUNDBITE) (English) PAKISTAN FORMER MILITARY RULER PERVEZ MUSHARRAF, SAYING: "To say in the short term, the possibility of a short-term reaction is there, therefore Pakistan ought to be very careful and so should United States and other countries, but in the long term, I think it would have a positive weakening effect on al Qaeda." MUSHARRAF SPEAKING TO REPORTER
  • Embargoed: 18th May 2011 00:25
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Arab Emirates
  • Country: United Arab Emirates
  • Topics: War / Fighting,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA769DU8UO7KJCZMOSL3EQJ7DSB
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf said on Monday that news of Osama bin Laden's death was a "positive step" even as he criticised the United States for launching the raid within his country's borders.
    "Well, initial reaction is very positive, it is a good act, it's positive, it's long term implication will be positive, I think it's a victory for all peace-loving people across the world," the former president said.
    Musharraf said, however, that the operation infringed on Pakistan's sovereignty
    "Another angle to it -- which has negative implications as far as Pakistan and the people of Pakistan are concerned -- and that is the violation of the border of Pakistan in that American -- U.S. forces -- have crossed the border and violated sovereignty of Pakistan, that has negative implication, this is Pakistan's sensitivity and I would say that it should never take place. Pakistan's sovereignty must never be violated," he added.
    Musharraf added that the arrest of Bin Laden will not have a major impact on U.S. troops' presence in the region, where U.S .forces are engaged in a near-decade long war in Afghanistan, facing a resurgent Taliban.
    "Well I think (the U.S.) withdrawing, leaving or quitting or staying, the impact of this one action is very simplistic view of the whole issue. I would put it like this; good battle won, but the war against terror continues, the war has not ended. The war doesn't end with one victory in a battle so a victory, a battle one but the war continues."
    Bin Laden died early on Monday in Abbottabad, a tiny enclave north of Islamabad, after U.S. Navy Seals were sent in to kill the leader of the militant group that orchestrated the Sept. 11 attacks and had eluded capture for nearly a decade.
    The revelation that bin Laden was living in a three-story residence in the military garrison town of Abbottabad, and not as many had speculated, in the country's lawless western border regions, is a huge embarrassment to Pakistan, whose relations with Washington have frayed under the Obama administration.
    "I would say it was an intelligent act (Bin Laden's hideout), generally one feels that, closer to this cantonment, that is why we were complacent, it led to complacency within intelligence because certainly it is a failure in intelligence not to have known that," said Musharraf, speaking from Dubai.
    Musharraf also said that he expected some short-term instability due to acts of revenge.
    "To say in the short term, the possibility of a short-term reaction is there, therefore Pakistan ought to be very careful and so should United States and other countries but in the long term, I think it would have a positive weakening effect on al Qaeda."
    Musharraf, who faces an arrest warrant issued in Pakistan in connection with the 2007 assassination of Benazir Bhutto -- a charge he denies -- has said he will return to Pakistan to take part in the next elections, due in 2013.
    In October, he launched the All Pakistan Muslim League political party.
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