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| India-Pakistan | |
| Musharraf Talks Out of Both Sides of Mouth. As Usual. | |
| 2003-09-30 | |
| Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf says his country already has "so much" to do, but he’ll consider a request from the family of slain journalist Daniel Pearl to build a monument in his memory. "Building a monument on him now could be seen, I’ve never thought of it, really. There’s so much to be done in Pakistan. I could consider that," the president said. Yeah, go build a monument on him. Or on what’s left of him. I’m sure you would consider that.
The president denied the link made in Who Killed Daniel Pearl by French writer Bernard-Henri Levy, and suggested the journalist put himself at risk by investigating extremists. "Unfortunately, in his investigative capacity, Daniel Pearl came ... to Pakistan, stayed with a group that had contacts with all kinds of people and then he kept moving down into this world of extremism himself. And then whatever happened, happened." The author of the book had this to say: "Musharraf’s comments were an outrageous slander on the memory of Daniel Pearl. Daniel Pearl was a journalist doing his job, and doing it fearlessly. He was not an extremist. This is the same thing that Musharraf had the nerve to say to President Bush at the time of the kidnapping, that Danny Pearl had been ’over-intrusive,’ as if he brought his own murder upon himself. I am astonished that Musharraf is allowed to get away with these comments as a way of avoiding discussion on Pakistan’s responsibility in this tragedy." | |
| Posted by:growler |