President Pervez Musharraf's address

Submitted by Riva Morris (Israel), Sep 20, 2005 at 10:06

President Pervez Musharraf's address on Saturday night called for closer ties with Israel. How can we trust a man who says that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the basic cause of terrorism in the Middle East and elsewhere? Pakistan, unlike India, is not a democracy in the true sense. Musharraf was not voted into power in real democratic elections. He has not curbed the activities of the terrorist-training facilities and mini-militias in Islamabad. He has not done enough to ensure women's rights, freedom of speech and the fair treatment of non-Muslim minorities, and the media in his country is not free and uncurbed. I did not find his comments about Jews to be really constructive, rather patronising and puting us in our place! He should work harder to make Pakistan reach the standard of Israel before he makes speeches to Israel about what it must do to promote world peace

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