On the threat to his life and restricted movements: "That's absolutely untrue," he said. "I can leave anywhere. I've gone abroad. I've gone toLahore, Karachi. I move in accordance with my plan of movement, in accordance with what I want to do.
"This is absolutely ridiculous .. Why should I not move? I don't get scared like that – no problem.I go anywhere, any time. The people around me may not be very happy about it..."
On whether Pakistan is in grave crisis: "Pakistan is facing difficult days, yes. Rarely has Pakistanfaced such a difficult situation. But I am very confident that our security is not threatened. We are verysecure and there is no problem so far as our stability and sovereignty is concerned."
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On Taliban and abandoning them: "Ninety per cent of Afghanistan was in Taliban hands and they happened to be Pashtuns. NowPashtuns have a very close affinity with Pakistan, so I think there was no other option for Pakistan to followother than recognising Taliban and trying to be with them. We couldn't have left the Taliban and gone on theside of the Northern Alliance.
"All that I did was to bring normalcy. I tried to moderate the views of the Taliban. That, however,never meant that we were in sort of love with the Taliban – certainly, we didn't want that kind of Islam inPakistan. Nor did it mean we were very much impressed by what they were doing in their country."
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"Policies are made in accordance with environments: the environment changed, our policy changed.National interest is permanent. National interest can never be given up.
"Our national interest is with Afghanistan, not with Taliban. We would like to have peace inAfghanistan, we would like to have stability and unity of Afghanistan, that is our national interest."
On Kashmir: "The cause of Kashmir must be resolved. Kashmir is a festering wound ... since partition; there is aUnited Nations Security Council resolution on Kashmir and we are demanding its implementation. We must resolvethe Kashmir dispute, this is our stand even now."
On his assurances that led to de-escalations: "There is nothing happening across the Line of Control," he says. "I know that the world isconcerned about the war clouds, and they were all concerned about cross-border terrorism.
"Now I did tell them that we need to address this Kashmir dispute once for all, and this is theassurance I've got, that we need to address the Kashmir dispute and move forward on it. So all I've done isthat there is nothing happening across the Line of Control, and move forward towards its resolution."
On whether Armitage made some frank threats. "We had a congenial and good interaction where he understood exactly our point of view. No, there hasbeen no threat whatsoever. There was no question of a threat."
On conciliatory steps taken by India. "Cosmetic .. They are easing their own problems."
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On Indian refusal to negotiate: "Kashmir needs to be resolved ... Okay, I also say it needs to be resolved in a peaceful manner. But ifthe other side does not want to resolve it, then we are stuck again. Therefore, I keep telling the UnitedStates and everyone: we must understand the dangers of this region. These dangers can only be averted if weresolve the Kashmir dispute. We must do that. Otherwise, there is another Palestine here in the making."
(Excerpted from the Independent, UK, of June 24,2002]
