Islamabad, Oct 25(ANI): Former military ruler Pervez Musharraf has categorically denied that he had ever struck a deal over allowing the United States to conduct drones strikes inside Pakistan or unilateral military action against Osama bin Laden.
"There is no such deal in place. There were nine drone attacks in three years [during my time]. The deal was to fight extremism and terrorism, to defeat al Qaeda and Taliban," The Express Tribune quoted Musharraf, as saying.
His claim was backed up by US Senator Bob Graham while answering questions on the Express 24/7 programme.
"There has been no deal, we have a common interest to eliminate the threat to innocent lives and for that we need to eliminate the source of that threat," Senator Graham said.
The partnership between Pakistan and the US is extremely crucial and both countries need to work through this difficult phase, he added.
However, the US senator also said that both sides understood that they were pursuing a common objective of eliminating the threat to innocent lives, and that the drones had demonstrated to be an effective tool to accomplish while it respects the sovereignty of foreign nations.
Talking about the unmanned strikes on Pakistan's soil, Musharraf said that the "drones did technically violate the sovereignty of Pakistan" and created antipathy against the US through collateral damage, which had contributed to the souring relations between Pakistan and the US, making the strikes counterproductive.
The former president suggested that a solution needs to be found since the drones did provide the benefits of killing militants.
When asked whether US troops on the ground in Pakistan would multiply terrorism, Musharraf said that it would not be wise for the US to come into North Waziristan, adding that military excursion into the area would create a terrible mess as it would ratchet up the anti-American sentiment.
Musharraf also voiced his opposition to complete fencing of the Pak-Afghan border, citing the difficulty in putting up a manned fence over very rough terrain, complicated by the unresolved legal aspect of the border.
"An obstacle like a fence is not effective till it is manned. Unless it is manned, anyone with a wire cutter can get through," he added.
Musharraf also defended the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) over the discovery of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, after being reminded that in his own book, it was mentioned that a senior al Qaeda leader, Al-Libbi, had three safe houses in Abbottabad.
The former Pakistan president maintained that it was "not a case of complicity but of serious negligence and failure of human intelligence".
Defending his rule in Pakistan, Musharraf said that dictatorship was "a state of mind and I was extremely democratic in my approach and introduced grass roots democracy". (ANI)
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