Pakistan’s former dictator Pervez Musharraf, who faces treason charges, has defended the country’s previous military rulers, saying they have always brought the nation “back on track”, while civilian Governments derailed it.
Musharraf, who toppled the civilian Government of Nawaz Sharif in 1999 in a military coup, also claimed that the India policy of the ousted Prime Minister in his third tenure was a “total sell out”, but did not explain what he meant by it.
He said this in an interview to BBC Urdu, which was recorded in Dubai, where the 73-year-old has been staying since he left Pakistan in March 2016.
He faces several charges, including treason for abrogating the Constitution and declaring emergency in 2007.
Musharraf has also been charged with involvement in the murder of two-time prime minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007.
“Whoever works actively against the welfare of Pakistan is against the country and should be killed,” he said in the interview.
Musharraf, who served as Pakistan’s president from 2001 to 2008, defended his “intervention” in 1999, saying he wanted to “save the nation”.
“The Constitution can be ignored if there is a need to save the nation,” he said, without explaining the nature of the threat Pakistan faced at that time.
He defended the military “takeovers” of the civilian Governments in Pakistan, saying that real development occurred only during military regimes and accused the civil Governments of reversing the progress achieved during military rules.