Brussels: Blaming the West for breeding terrorism in Pakistan, President Pervez Musharraf told the foreign affairs committee of the European Parliament on Tuesday that Pakistan was not an intolerant or extremist country, as has often been portrayed by the West.
"Whatever extremism or terrorism is in Pakistan is a direct fallout of the 26 years of warfare and militancy around us. It gets back to 1979 when the West, the United States and Pakistan waged a war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan," the Daily Times quoted Musharraf as telling d EU lawmakers.
"We launched a jihad, brought in mujahideen from all over the Muslim world, the US and the West. We armed the Taliban and sent them in; we did it together. In 1989 everyone left Pakistan with 30,000 armed mujahideen who were there, and the Taliban who were there," he said, adding that Pakistan had "paid a big price for being part of the coalition that fought the Soviet Union."
Musharraf said that the scourge of terrorism had been eliminated from Pakistan, and now efforts were underway to root out extremism.
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