HIDING WOMEN IS BACKWARD MUSHARRAF TELLS BBC
(6 December 2004)

Hiding women away in the home hidden behind veils is a backward view of Islam and is absolutely wrong, President Musharraf of Pakistan told BBC Newsnight in an exclusive interview on the eve of his visit to the British Pakistani community in Manchester. In the interview, presenter Kirsty Wark asked the President of Pakistan about issues surrounding integration following Pakistan High Commissioner Dr Lodhi's recent criticisms of some sections of the British Pakistani community.

Dr Lodhi said that women should be treated as equal partners and not hidden away in the home. Musharraf answered: "I don't believe in that. This is a backward view of the religion. This is a totally backward view of Islam and I don't believe in it, and this is exactly what I meant when we are saying that in Pakistan the vast majority is moderate. "My wife is travelling around. She is very religious but she is very moderate. So this is a very backward view. Some people think that the women should be confined to their houses and put veils on and all that and they should not move out - absolutely wrong."

The Pakistani president was also asked whether he thought the war on terror had made the world less safe. He told Newsnight: "Yes, absolutely. And I would add that unfortunately we are not addressing the core problems, so therefore we can never address it in its totality. We are fighting it in its immediate context but we are not fighting it in its strategic long-term context."

He added: "It is the political disputes and we need to resolve them, and also the issue of illiteracy and poverty. This combined are breeding grounds of extremism and terrorism."

The Pakistani President was questioned on why Osama Bin Laden had not yet been captured. Asked whether part of the problem was that the Pakistani people have no desire to see Bin Laden handed over to America, he replied: "Well yes, I wouldn't deny this fact, that because of whatever has happened this man has taken on the stature of a hero in a certain kind of people... in certain... especially in the extremists, and therefore he would have some abetters there, and that is the reality."

During the interview President Musharraf was asked whether he would let the International Atomic Energy Authority speak directly to Dr A.Q. Khan, who helped Pakistan develop the nuclear bomb, but also allegedly gave nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea. He replied: "We have no inhibitions of not passing the information on, so why shouldn't they be trusting us?

"Will anyone who comes and meets him be more capable than our organisation, than us? So I think it's... I won't say even demeaning that, it's thinking that we are just incapable or we are not trustworthy."

Further questioned on whether there was a remote chance, because of Dr A.Q. Khan's actions, that Osama Bin Laden could eventually get his hands on some kind of nuclear capability, he replied: "I don't believe in alarming... he is not competent, he cannot produce a bomb... I am not at all trying to defend him, he has done something which has brought a bad name to my country, to Pakistan, and we regret that and we really certainly condemn him in all the strongest words.

"But his passing anything is not sufficient to make a bomb. It needs a lot of much greater effort, much greater time, much more people to be able to achieve a nuclear device which can explode the trigger mechanism."

President Musharraf was also questioned about whether he had counselled President Bush against any further military action in his area, particularly with regard to Iran during his second term. Musharraf replied: "Yes, yes, certainly I have expressed these views, that we have opened too many fronts and the time is to close fronts rather than opening new ones."

Asked what he had said he replied: "Well I didn't do this time, this time, frankly but I have been saying it in the past."

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