Pakistan: Musharraf speech on 55th anniversary of independence

President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan issued his address to the nation on the 55th anniversary of Pakistan’s independence on Wednesday.

President Musharraf made a scathing attack on Moslem extremists, calling them “an insignificant minority” with a “misconceived view of Islam”, carrying out the “most shameful and despicable examples of terrorism”, a reference to the recent attacks against Christian places of worship.

Regarding Kashmir, he declared that the Indian government’s announcement that elections are to be held in Indian Kashmir is a “mask of India’s illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir”.

In the run-up to the October election, President Musharraf presents himself as the senior statesman, the man at the helm of his country’s destinies in its current regional conflict. It is difficult to forecast a different figure in the Presidential Residence in Islamabad in the near future.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY PRAVDA.Ru