Osama bin Laden is the ‘Hero of Pakistan’ Says Musharraf

Former controversial President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf in an interview accepted that the Kashmiri youths were trained in Pakistan as Mujahideen to fight with the Indian Army in the Jammu and Kashmir. In the interview he also said that jihadi terrorists are the heroes of Pakistan and terrorists like Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Jalaluddin Haqqani are all ‘Heroes of Pakistan’.

Pakistani politician Farhatullah Babar shared the undated interview clip on his Twitter handle on Wednesday, where Pervez Musharraf can be clearly heard saying, “Kashmiris who came to Pakistan received a hero reception here. We used to train them and support them. We considered them as Mujahideen who will fight with the Indian Army. Then, various terrorist organisations like Lashkar-e-Taiba rose in this period. They (jihadi terrorists) were our heroes”.

In the interview at one point retired General Musharraf also says terrorists like Osama bin Laden and Jalaluddin Haqqani were the, “Pakistani heroes”. As he continues he says “In 1979, we have introduced religious militancy in Afghanistan to benefit Pakistan and to push the Soviets out of the country. We brought Mujahideen from all over the world in Pakistan, we trained them and supplied them weapons. We trained the Taliban. They were our heroes. Haqqani was our hero. Osama bin Laden was our hero. Ayman al-Zawahiri was our hero. Then the global environment changed. The world started viewing things differently. Our heroes were turned into villains”.

General Musharraf says that the militants were nurtured and touted as ‘heroes’ to fight in Jammu and Kashmir. He also said if it resulted in the destruction of two generations of Pashtuns it did not matter as he questions, “is it wrong to demand Truth Commission to find out who has devised self-serving policies that has destroyed Pashtuns?”

Retd General Musharraf’s revelation is also a clear proof that Pakistan, which claims to have no interference in Jammu and Kashmir, has been training terrorists and giving them a safe haven to fuel terrorism in the region as claimed by India at different forums. 

General Musharraf is the controversial Pakistan Politician who retired as four stars General of the Pakistani Army. As the Army Chief he led the Kargil Infiltration that led to a full-fledged war in the year 1999 with India, but Pakistan has to accept defeat in the hands of India. He also became the 10th President of Pakistan, after staging a coup seizing the government in Pakistan from the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.