Musharraf warns US 'invaders' against entry
President Pervez Musharraf warned today that US troops would be regarded as invaders if they crossed into Pakistan to hunt for al-Qaida militants.
The embattled leader also said he would resign if opposition parties tried to impeach him after next month’s elections.
Mr Musharraf’s remarks in an interview with Singapore’s The Straits Times came as police investigated a suicide attack a day earlier in the eastern city of Lahore that killed 24 people, adding to pressures on the former general as he struggles to stay in office eight years after seizing power in military coup.
Pakistan is under growing US pressure to crack down on militants in its tribal regions close to the Afghan border.
The rugged area has long been considered a likely hiding place for al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri, as well as an operating ground for Taliban militants planning attacks on coalition forces in Afghanistan.
The New York Times reported last week that Washington was considering expanding the authority of the CIA and the military to persue aggressive covert operations within the tribal regions. Several US presidential candidates have also hinted they would support unilateral action in the area.
Mr Musharraf told the Straits Times that US troops would “certainly” be considered invaders if they set foot in the tribal regions.
“If they come without our permission, that’s against the sovereignty of Pakistan. I challenge anybody coming into our mountains,” he said in the interview in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. “They would regret that day.”
Mr Musharraf is also under gathering domestic political pressure.
The party of murdered opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and the other main opposition grouping are predicted to make gains in the February 18 polls and have vowed to oust Mr Musharraf if they emerge as winners.
Mr Musharraf is seen as vulnerable to impeachment over his decision to fire Supreme Court judges and suspend the constitution last year.
“If that (impeachment) happens, let me assure that I’d be leaving office before they would do anything. If they won with this kind of majority and they formed a government that had the intention of doing this, I wouldn’t like to stick around,” he said.
“I would like to quit the scene.”
