On U.S. Tour, Musharraf Dismisses Speculation About Pakistani Coup

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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A nationwide power outage and a stop at an American hospital by President Musharraf gave rise to widespread speculation that his military-led government had been overthrown in his absence, but he dismissed the rumors as “nonsense.”

General Musharraf said in an interview Sunday with Pakistani TV from America that the rumors were “nonsense in nonsense in nonsense.”

In an interview with the “Today” show broadcast yesterday, General Musharraf defended his decision to support the American-led war on terror, saying it had been in Pakistan’s interest — despite earlier claims that America had threatened to attack the South Asian nation if it refused.

“Basically it is in Pakistan’s interest that I took the decision, it’s not the case of somebody pointing the gun on my head or anything,” he said.

Last week, General Musharraf said in an interview that Richard Armitage, the former deputy secretary of state, warned Pakistan’s intelligence chief after the September 11, 2001, attacks that American forces could bomb Pakistan “back to the Stone Age” if it didn’t switch support from the Taliban.

America subsequently led a military campaign that in November 2001 ousted the Taliban regime for allegedly hosting Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.

Yesterday, General Musharraf also stood by a peace agreement recently brokered by tribal elders with pro-Taliban forces in Pakistan’s North Waziristan region. He cautioned against treating all tribesmen in that volatile enclave as militants. “If you do that, you’re going to have a people’s war … and the people join the Taliban, and that will be disaster,” he said.

General Musharraf, 63, underwent routine testing with his cardiologist Saturday during an unannounced trip to Texas a day after meeting with President Bush in Washington. The Pakistani president was “found to be in excellent health,” according to a statement from the regional medical center in the East Texas town of Paris.


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