Islamabad: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, who sided with the US in the fight
against international terrorism, on March 7 ruled out possibility of getting
involved militarily in the event of a war against Iraq.
Pakistan would maintain "our national interest ... I think it is a tough time that
one is going through and one has to deliberate a lot and take decisions in Pakistani
interests", Musharraf said in an interview to CNN when asked about his country's
stance on Iraq crisis.
"We do not want to get involved at all militarily," he said, adding "we have our own
problems here in the region. I think we have our hands full."
He, however, said that a US-led war on Iraq would certainly "have a fallout" in his
country as "it is being seen as if the Islamic world was being
targetted".
He feared that people may come out to the streets, "but one has to see to what
extent, what magnitude is this problem".
In reply to a question, Musharraf said that there was a split among members of the
UN and Muslim nations as well on a military action against Iraq. "These are various
pulls in various directions."
About Osama bin Laden, Musharraf, who had earlier maintained that the terrorist
mastermind was dead, raised the possibility of his being alive but said that the al-
Qaida leader might not be in the cities.
PTI
