ISLAMABAD, Oct 15: President Gen Pervez Musharraf told a corps commanders conference on Monday that Pakistan had made it abundantly clear to the United States and United Kingdom that it would not accept any future government in Afghanistan which was not broad-based.
Pakistan did not want to preempt any thing but it would not accept any imposed dispensation in Afghanistan, sources quoted President Musharraf as having said at the conference.
He said the Northern Alliance represented the minority, therefore it cannot be accepted to form a future government.
Pakistan wanted that the future government in Kabul should be established in accordance with the wishes of Afghan people, Maj-Gen Rashid Qureshi, chief spokesman of the president, told Dawn.
“You will have to have the new government in that country which is multi-ethnic and represents all the factions,” he said, adding that 10 to 15 per cent Tajiks and 10 to 15pc Uzbeks did not represent the whole of Afghanistan.
The president took into confidence the corps commanders and principle staff officers about the visit of US Secretary of States Colin Powell.
Gen Musharraf said that he would again apprise Mr Powell about Pakistan’s principled stand on Afghanistan to have a broad-based government there. Pakistan, he said, had offered its support to the US-led coalition to combat terrorism and that his government was not looking for any quid pro quo.
Nevertheless, official quar-ters are maintaining that Pakistan would be compensated for having supported the US at a time when religious extremists were protesting against the government and were even instigating violence, particularly in the NWFP and Balochistan.
The president apprised the participants about the geo-strategic situation in the region and Pakistan’s stand in the backdrop of post-Sept 11 scenario. The conference reviewed the operational preparedness of armed forces.
The participants expressed full confidence about the operational readiness and capability of the army, and its ability to combat all possible threats.
“The conference discussed important internal and external aspects to meet any situation,” Maj-Gen Qureshi said.