WASHINGTON, Sept 18 Former president Pervez Musharraf has finally conceded that it was a mistake to sack the judges of the superior courts, an action that led to his unceremonious departure from power. In a meeting with a group of 35 students at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, a chastened Mr Musharraf admitted that removing Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry from his office was a mistake too.

After a 45-minute speech to more than 2,000 people who attended his lecture, Mr Musharraf told a Q&A session “Everything I did was very constitutional and very legal. But I do think I committed mistakes which should not have been done at all.”

He insisted that it was not a mistake to send the reference against the CJ to Supreme Judicial Council. “It was my constitutional and legal obligation,” he said but admitted that the reference resulted in a chaos in the country.

“Now, after seeing the incidents following his dismissal from the office I realised that I shouldn't have done that,” said the former general while responding to a question.

“Probably I won't commit such mistakes in future,” he said.

Mr Musharraf said he had no personal grudge against Chief Justice Chaudhry “when I removed him, nor do I have any animosity towards him now”.

Mr Musharraf, however, insisted that even if they were mistakes, his actions served the larger interest of the nation and democracy.

“I had no other choice but to depose the CJ in order to prevent the democratic system of that time,” he said.

In his lecture, Mr Musharraf advocated far-reaching solutions to terrorism, including settling old disputes in Israel and the disputed Kashmir region.

Mr Musharraf also said that India as well as Pakistan and Afghanistan faced extremist troubles.

“We need to inject more forces. And may I say we have to defeat it, whatever it costs,” he told a near-capacity crowd at Trinity's Laurie Auditorium. “So therefore, may I suggest to this august gathering, we have to accept casualties, ladies and gentlemen.”