Musharraf harps on India’s ‘high-handedness’

Islamabad, despite the reconciliation efforts by both Indian and Pakistani premiers in the Russian city of Ufa last week, former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf is still blaming New Delhi for its "high-handedness", a media report said on Monday.

Musharraf, while talking to Ary News, said "the arch rival tried to maintain its high-handedness (in the meeting), but we must not be bullied".

"We should raise the issue of Samjhauta Express to counter India while taking up the matter of 26/11 Mumbai attacks," he said, adding "Pakistan should boldly face India".

Musharraf, 71, further blamed the Nawaz Sharif-led government for not fully backing its military and the paramilitary force, Pakistan Rangers.

The former military ruler praised the military and said they were successfully acting against terrorists in the country, and advocated extension of the current army chief's tenure.

"Army chief General Raheel Sharif is performing well and he must be given extension of his term," Musharraf said.

Earlier, Senator Rehman Malik of the opposition Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP) criticized the Ufa meeting.

The former interior minister compared Modi to "the Tsar of Russia" as he described how the two state leaders interacted.

Shireen Mazari of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf was equally disturbed at "the silence on the Kashmir issue" and "Indian involvement" in Baluchistan. "Modi raised Mumbai and Sharif agreed to 'fast track' the investigations. Not a word on Samjhauta Express (blasts) was uttered by Sharif," she said.

(IANS)