Musharraf defends human rights record

President Pervez Musharraf in Auckland yesterday. Picture / Brett Phibbs

Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf last night defended in Auckland his Government's record in dealing with rape and violence against women.

The Army chief was cool in the face of questions about the Mukhtaran Bibi case when he addressed a New Zealand Foreign Correspondents' Club meeting at the Northern Club.

Mukhtaran was raped in 2002 by four men on the orders of a tribal council in Punjab Province, in retaliation for her brother's so-called crime against tribal honour.
Her speaking out about the rape drew the Western world's attention to Pakistan's human rights record.

President Musharraf said he was hurt when Pakistan was picked out as a place where rapes and violence against women were rampant.

"We are no worse than any other developing country," he said to applause from the Pakistani contingent at the function.

"This terrible rape case was in one remote part of Pakistan and is not rampant everywhere and happening every day."

He was on the side of women and was trying to bring rapists to "justice in the strongest form".

His Government was addressing the main obstacle to emancipation of women, with programmes to encourage women and girls into education, he said.

About 40,000 women had been empowered to take up positions of political authority.

The President said Pakistan was a victim of poor public perception and was evolving into a modern democracy under his rule.

But while it wanted to modernise, the nation did not want to "westernise" and lose its culture.

The country was looking towards east Asia and New Zealand and Australia for help to fight poverty and develop.

The President said Pakistan could learn a lot from New Zealand - particularly in agriculture, dairy production and food processing.

President Musharraf said he was optimistic about the prospect of expanding economic and trade links with New Zealand after talks with Prime Minister Helen Clark.

Since the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington, there had been a sharp decline in the number of students able to go to the United States, he said.

Helen Clark said students from Pakistan would be welcomed in New Zealand and Pakistan would like to send a couple of hundred.

In an earlier interview, President Musharraf defended his overthrow of Pakistan's democratically elected Government nearly six years ago as necessary to ensure stability.

He also defended his decision to pardon Dr Abdul Qadeer Khah, the "father" of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal whose actions ensured North Korea and Libya gained access to nuclear technology.

"He gave us security when we were threatened with extinction ... That is why he is a hero. But the world doesn't understand this.

"If New Zealand was threatened with nuclear extinction you would do anything to save yourself. So Pakistan will do anything to save itself."

President Musharraf predicted it could take a decade to find Osama bin Laden, who is believed to be hiding in border country between Pakistan and Afghanistan.