Stupid Musharraf Quotes

[Srirangan]

Check this one out in an recent interview to Guardian..

Asked by the Guardian if he had the "teeth" to bite back at his Western allies, Musharraf said: "Yes sir, I personally do -- a lot of teeth. Sometimes the teeth do not have to be shown. Pragmatism is required in international relations." - Reuters

In international relations you also have to learn to not make stupid statements! I mean is it really that hard to dodge this question? Asim could have done a better job in avoiding answering this straight.

[Asim Aquil]

Haha sounds cool actually.

[Ray]

I think Asim's reply is better than what Musharraf had said.

Honestly, if one had just said, "Haha sounds real cool" it would be the Punjabi equivalent of "Ah bhi wah wah, TaN bhi wah wah! "

[Srirangan]

Yes, Asim's reply to this topic shows that he's smarter than Musharraf when it comes to speaking.

[Asim Aquil]

And then they say I claim the world revolves around me...

[Srirangan]

It's just a comparison, we are talking about the Pakistani head of state and comparing him with Wab's resident average Pakistani. Make no mistake, your leaders stupid utterances to the media are the topic of discussion.

Someone in the Pakistani elite ought to let him know of the mockery he makes of himself, of Pakistan and, as history would prove it, the mockery he makes of Pakistani women and the Pakistani society at large, every time he opens his mouth to the press.

[Asim Aquil]

Oh I can remember not too long ago when he shushed a panel of Indian mediamen there to duke it out with Musharraf in Agra :D.

He replied question after question and left the Indians with long faces :D

[Srirangan]

Being hostile to a press in a hostile nation, would you call that smart? All it did was 'prove Musharraf was macho' to a Pakistani Army back home. It made the Agra Summit a disaster, so would that be a diplomatic success for Pakistan?

Infact the Agra summit is yet another instance of a macho doesn't known what to speak General ruining diplomatic ties. If I were you, I really wouldn't harp on it.

It is never diplomatically right to say "I can bite you, I have teeth". Be it to the West or be it to India. All it shows is that (metaphorically) you are a dog who will bite when the chance arrives. Never wise Asim. Never wise.

[Asim Aquil]

They had questions he answered them, straight up!

Otherwise Ray would've screamed "bloody weasel".

Answering questions and not pussyfooting around the issues is not hostility.

[Hari_Om]

Check this one out in an recent interview to Guardian..



In international relations you also have to learn to not make stupid statements! I mean is it really that hard to dodge this question? Asim could have done a better job in avoiding answering this straight.

I can see a high degree of anxiety developing in Dr. Teeth as his days in Electric Mayhem, may be numbered.

OTOH this bit of news will come as a great relief to Barney.

Meanwhile .........

If not GWB’s Poodle ………..

Hu Jintao’s Shar Pei or Abdullah’s Saluki .

[Hari_Om]

The Guardian article reffered to by Reuters:

Musharraf insists: I'm not George Bush's poodle

· General says US air strikes infringe sovereignty
· President denies running military dictatorship

Declan Walsh and Simon Tisdall in Rawalpindi
Friday April 28, 2006
The Guardian

General Pervez Musharraf, facing a surge of anti-American sentiment, yesterday warned that covert US air strikes against al-Qaida inside Pakistan were an infringement of national sovereignty.

Admitting that his popularity was waning, the Pakistani president insisted he was "not a poodle" of George Bush and rejected accusations he was running a military dictatorship.

Speaking to the Guardian at Army House in Rawalpindi weeks after a tense visit by the US president that brought a torrent of domestic criticism, Gen Musharraf insisted he was his own man.

"When you are talking about fighting terrorism or extremism, I'm not doing that for the US or Britain. I'm doing it for Pakistan," he said. "It's not a question of being a poodle. I'm nobody's poodle. I have enough strength of my own to lead."

If necessary he had "teeth" to bite back, he added. "Yes sir, I personally do. A lot of teeth. Sometimes the teeth do not have to be shown. Pragmatism is required in international relations."

Gen Musharraf pledged to hold free and fair elections next year as urged by Mr Bush during his visit to Islamabad last month. Opposition parties fear the poll, which government officials claim will be the most open since Gen Musharraf seized power in 1999, will be rigged.

"It is ironic that I'm sitting in uniform talking of democracy ... but to bring democracy into Pakistan I thought I needed it," he said.

An American Predator drone fired Hellfire missiles at a house in Bajaur tribal agency in January, killing 18 people but missing their target, al-Qaida's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri. The attack near the Afghan border caused public uproar and brought renewed accusations that Gen Musharraf was a US puppet.
Local journalist Hayatullah Khan, who photographed missile fragments linking the strikes to the US, disappeared four days later and is still missing. A western diplomat said he was probably being held by Pakistani intelligence and may have been mistreated.

The strike underlined tensions in the anti-terror alliance between Pakistan and the US, which has also been strained by Washington's nuclear deal with India, its insistence on democratic reforms, and alleged American meddling in the sprawling south-western province of Baluchistan. "The strike was an infringement of our sovereignty and I condemned it," said Gen Musharraf.

Pakistan also faces criticism from the US and Afghanistan for not doing enough to flush extremists from its tribal areas. Mr Bush said he had come to Islamabad "to determine whether or not the president is as committed as he has been in the past to bringing these terrorists to justice".

Gen Musharraf insisted yesterday there was no question of Pakistan submitting to American scrutiny and said claims that his government acted at Washington's bidding were nonsense. "There is no need of any checks - that is the reality," he said.

Gen Musharraf, who faces revolts in Baluchistan and along the Afghan border, admitted to feeling embattled. He added that there was a growing problem of "Talibanisation" in Waziristan, a troubled tribal area where several hundred al-Qaida suspects have been killed.

The battle against al-Qaida was almost won in Waziristan, he said. "Because of our successes in the cities where we got 600-700 of them, and then in the mountains where we occupied their sanctuaries, thankfully they are on the run."
But a new form of local fundamentalism was taking its place in Waziristan, which is ruled directly from Islamabad under colonial-era laws. "Extremism in a Talibanised form is what people are now going for. Mullah Omar and the Taliban have influence in Waziristan and it's spilling over into our settled areas."
This week militants occupied a market in the regional capital, Miran Shah, for several hours, burning newspapers and threatening local people. Two taxi drivers accused of collaborating with coalition forces in nearby Afghanistan were found beheaded. More than 150 pro-government elders and officials have been killed in the past year.

Gen Musharraf defended his tactic of using military force instead of negotiation to quell the violence and said some collateral damage was inevitable when militants' hideouts were attacked.

"We take extreme care to be 100% sure of the target from all sources of intelligence ... There is minimum collateral damage. If someone happens to be very close to [the target], that somebody is an abetter and they suffer the loss. Sometimes, indeed, women and children have been killed but they have been right next to the place. It's not that the strike was inaccurate but they happen to be there, so therefore they are all supporters and abetters of terrorism - and therefore they have to suffer. It's bad luck," he said.

Gen Musharraf also played down unrest in the resource-rich province of Baluchistan, where nationalist militants are blowing up gas pipelines and trains and attacking army positions. He described the rebels as "mercenaries" and their attacks as "pin pricks", and said the disturbances were confined to one-twentieth of the province's area.

"So what revolt are you talking about? People talk about an East Pakistan situation," he said, referring to the secession of Bangladesh in 1971. "I understand strategy. These people are pygmies."

Criticism of his military-driven strategy came from "people who sit in drawing rooms and talk", he said, but added that a political solution was also being sought.

Gen Musharraf has survived two assassination attempts but elections scheduled for next year are expected to pose the greatest threat yet to his grip on power. Overt and behind-the-scenes US and British pressure for a free poll has become another friction point in the west's relationship with Islamabad.

The leaders of the two main opposition parties, Benazir Bhutto of the Pakistan Peoples party and Nawaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League, are in exile and face arrest if they return home. Meeting in London this week they launched a fresh political alliance and called for western support.

Gen Musharraf said his mission was to democratise Pakistan. "My popularity has gone down ... but at this moment my country needs me. I've put a strong constitutional democratic system in place. That will throw up a successor. I'm a strong believer in democracy."

Backstory

Pervez Musharraf seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999 when he was head of the country's armed forces, forcing the country's elected prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, into exile in Saudi Arabia. Initial international condemnation faded after September 2001, when Gen Musharraf dropped his support for the Taliban and threw his weight behind the US-led "war on terror". He has since become a key ally in the west's hunt for al-Qaida extremists but his popularity has plummeted due to widespread anti-American sentiment. In December 2003 he survived two al-Qaida assassination attempts in two weeks. Gen Musharraf attempted to legitimise his rule through elections in 2002 that observers described as deeply flawed. A self-described liberal, he has introduced some social reforms but also allied himself with hardline religious parties when necessary. Last year he advanced the peace process with India through "cricket diplomacy".

[Srirangan]

Being hostile to a press in a hostile nation, would you call that smart? All it did was 'prove Musharraf was macho' to a Pakistani Army back home. It made the Agra Summit a disaster, so would that be a diplomatic success for Pakistan?

Infact the Agra summit is yet another instance of a macho doesn't known what to speak General ruining diplomatic ties. If I were you, I really wouldn't harp on it.

It is never diplomatically right to say "I can bite you, I have teeth". Be it to the West or be it to India. All it shows is that (metaphorically) you are a dog who will bite when the chance arrives. Never wise Asim. Never wise.

Repeating age old rhettoric isn't anythign special. And appearing hostile to the press isn't a diplomatic victory. That's the problem, you people have terribly immature expectations of your leaders. They have no pressure on them to quit the childish machoism. No wonder we have a toothful of Musharraf with us.

[Asim Aquil]

The mediamen spoke the official India line. The official Indian line was silenced!

Now thats something. What was it? 30 vs 1?

[Srirangan]

Crazy deductions. No the media doesn't speak on behalf of the country. Your 'flexible' General/President was asked questions regarding the summit and your General answered them with rhettoric. Pretty stupid if you ask me.

30 on 1? Why is everything a contest for you guys? No seriously, why is a press conference an India v/s Pakistan contest for you? Such combative psyche, no wonder we have all that peace in this part of the world!

[Asim Aquil]

Errr the aggression was shown by the Indian media. They were the ones asking questions and Musharraf was the one answering them.

You're right, it really wasn't a contest.

Btw, a contest is not combative. Maybe in your nation it is. In mine its competitive.