Musharraf urges defeat of terrorist groups

SARASOTA — Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf did not know whether Osama bin Laden was dead or alive, but said that the leader of the 9/11 attacks, along with other terrorist and insurgent leaders and groups, must be defeated.

“We have to win, ladies and gentlemen,” he told a crowd of 1,700 at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall. “We must win. Losing or quitting is not an option, that’s what I feel.”

He advised the United States and its allies in the Middle East to refrain from stating exactly when their missions might conclude.

A timetable for troop withdrawal in areas around Pakistan, such as Afghanistan or Iraq, has the effect of encouraging insurgents, he said.

Results-oriented timetables along with serious counterterrorism efforts would head off worldwide destabilization if it were done with sufficient energy and resolve, he said.

Musharraf, who spoke during a Ringling College Library Association lecture, was Pakistan’s president from 2001-08.

During his tenure, he survived two assassination attempts, and was a key player in the global war on terror.

Asked about Pakistan’s nuclear program, Musharraf reassured questioners that its nuclear assets were carefully guarded and under strict government control.

During a press conference before the lecture, he dismissed the notion that extremists might take over Pakistan’s government and use its nuclear arsenal against their enemies.

“How can it fall in any wrong hands? he said. “I can see only two ways they can fall in wrong hands: No. 1, extremists form the government in Pakistan, then, of course, the whole of Pakistan is theirs, and the army has become theirs.

“This is not at all possible in any foreseeable future, because at this moment in Pakistan, only 2-3 percent of the seats in the assemblies are held by religious groups,” he said. “I don’t see this happening at all in Pakistan.”

The other possibility would be a terrorist attack at a nuclear facility, but Musharraf said, “They’ll have to fight the army, and also the places where these assets are held, I know them to be impregnable.

“Therefore, I don’t see them falling into any wrong hands at all.”

Sara Kennedy, Herald reporter, can be reached at (941) 745-7031.