What makes Musharraf eat his words?

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script><br />NEW DELHI: Does Mush like the taste of his own words? Or do domestic compulsions make him eat them? <br /></div> <div align="left" style="position:relative; left: -2"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="left" border="1" width="23.6%"> <colgroup> <col width="100.0%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" f3f3f3=""> <div class="Normal"><img src="/photo/370685.cms" alt="/photo/370685.cms" border="0" /></div> </td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" f3f3f3=""> <div class="Normal"><a href="http://www.thetimesofindia.online/articleshow/343202.cms">Gen Pervez Musharraf</a></div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal"><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">Whatever, the Pakistan President has made it a habit of backtracking on his grand gestures - give it to him, he makes them often.But then he takes them away. Just a few of the classic flip flops from Islamabad this year:</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">Dec. 17: "We are for the UN Security Council resolutions. However, we have left that aside now. If we want to resolve this issue, both sides need to talk with flexibility, going beyond stated positions, meeting halfway somewhere. We are prepared to rise to the occasion. India has to be flexible also." </span><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="" font-style:="" italic="">Musharraf</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">Dec. 18: "The General is not dropping the call for plebiscite. We have some alternative proposals." </span><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="" font-style:="" italic="">Sheikh Rashid, Pakistan Information Minister</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">June 25, 2003: "I am all for the freedom of press and you do not have to worry that this unparalleled freedom will be snatched by my government at any stage". </span><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="" font-style:="" italic="">Musharraf</span><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold=""> </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">November 20, 2003: Musharraf is reported to have condemned a monthly magazine </span><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="" font-style:="" italic="">Herald </span><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">for being "anti-army" and working against the "national interest."</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold=""><formid=367815></formid=367815></span><br /><br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal"><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">June 25, 2003: “</span>We don''t have any links. We are not responsible for terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir,� <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Musharraf</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">June 26: “</span>Pakistan will continue to give political support to the separatist movement in Jammu and Kashmir “ <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Musharraf in Washington</span>.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">June 14, 2003:</span> "We have fought three wars in the past, so what is the guarantee in the future there won''t be any further action. That is not an aggressive statement, it is a statement of fact." <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Musharraf</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">June 16:</span> "I was misquoted". "They are looking for an excuse to malign us, or to target me personally." <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Musharraf</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Jan 18, 2002:</span> "I think now, frankly, he (Osama) is dead for the reason he is a ... kidney patient." <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Musharraf</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">June 21, 2003:</span> "I believe al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is still alive and may be hiding in Pakistan." <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Musharraf</span><br /><br /><formid=367815><br /><br /><br /></formid=367815></div> </div><div class="section3"><div class="Normal"><br />Of course, it''s not about a high-pressure year. This is vintage Mush. Sample this: <br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">May 24, 2002:</span> "A lot of people are having doubts about my commitments to forswear Islamist radicalism as a tool of Pakistan''s policy, but let me assure you there is no backtracking.� <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Musharraf</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">May 26:</span> "We respect jihadi outfits and we never called for giving up jihad in Kashmir." <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Musharraf</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">July14-July 2001:</span> At Agra: ''''The summit has created such hype that the entire world is watching us. We must meet with an open mind, remove the main irritant.'''' <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Musharraf</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Aug 2001: </span>Musharraf refers to the UN resolutions in a banquet speech for Lebanese president Rafik Hariri. <br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">And often:</span> The Pakistan Government is determined to suppress terrorists.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Or: </span>Terrorism would not be exported from our soil.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Often too: </span>There''s little we can do to rein in terrorists.<br /><br /><formid=367815><br /><br /><br /></formid=367815></div> </div><div class="section4"><div class="Normal"><br />The problem may be generic. It began to show early. <br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">October 1999: </span>In his speech soon after he assumed power, he conjured up a vision of a modern Islamic state like Turkey; he promised, among other things, state control of madrassas through various measures; documentation of the economy to prevent tax evasion; signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, a general sales tax on retail trade and curbs on smuggling on the Afghan route. <br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">December 2003: </span>Musharraf is the most powerful military dictator Pakistan has ever spawned. For the rest, Pakistani madrassas continue to churn out terrorists; the Pakistani economy is still awaiting a life-saving injection; CTBT? What''s that? Smuggling continues across the porous Afghan border.<br /><br /><formid=367815></formid=367815></div> </div>