Hulleye Comes By!

President Gen. Pervez Musharraf in an interview with The Washington post in New York said, he has “totally turned around Pakistan” and had made key advances in fostering democracy. He defended his democratic credentials, saying the steps taken by him included protection of freedom of the press, empowerment of local government, improvement of position of women in the society and grant of greater representation to minorities. ”Leave the developing world aside; I think we are better than all of them,” Musharraf declared. “Bring the developed world and let us compare Pakistan’s record, under me, a uniformed man, with many of the developed countries. I challenge that we will be better off”. “Let me assure you that President Bush never talks about when are you taking your uniform off,” he said, when asked about his uniform. About Mukhtar Mai, he said that Mai was free to travel now, and that he had no regrets about how he handled the incident. He said, Mai had come under the sway of organizations determined to harm Pakistan’s image and he did not think Pakistan “should be singled out when the curse is everywhere in the world.” He noted that he had seen reports or figures about rape in the United States, Canada, France and Britain showing that “it is happening everywhere.”

“You must understand the environment in Pakistan,” President Musharraf added. “This has become a money making concern.

“A lot of people say if you want to go abroad and get a visa for Canada or citizenship and be a millionaire, get yourself raped.”

(DAWN/ NEWS/ NATION/ JANG/ NAWA-E-WAQT/ DAILY TIMES/ POST/ KHABRAIN)