We speak better English than Indians: Musharraf
Musharraf also asserted that the trend of outsourcing jobs to India from the US was soon going to change.
"We speak better English than the Indians", Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said in Washington that the trend of outsourcing jobs to India from the US was soon going to change.
Musharraf, who came Washington on Wednesday for five hours to launch the Congressional Caucus on Pakistan, told a crowd of Pakistani Americans that his country was changing, its image was changing and the trend of outsourcing jobs to India should also change with that "because we speak better English than the Indians".
This caused a lot of laughter in the audience in which the president also joined.
He said the "new" Pakistan, which was seeking to project itself as a moderate, progressive nation where violence and fundamentalism had no place, was characterized by the rise of hope and all Pakistanis should be proud of that.
He urged them to stand up for Pakistan and counter criticism, "even if it (criticism) is right" - his remarks again evoking much laughter.
Musharraf also promised to build the world's tallest building in Pakistan and regretted that the country had not won a single medal at the Athens Olympics.
"We have neglected culture in favour of agriculture," he said and added that the situation was going to be redressed as well, along with "course corrections" done in many other spheres.
He said if Pakistan had not changed course when it had to make a choice, it would have been in grave danger. "Sub khatam ho jata (everything would have ended)", said the president, looking natty in a dark suit and red tie.
Without naming any country but obviously alluding to the US, Musharraf said sanctions would have been imposed on Pakistan and even the country's strategic assets would have been in "serious danger".
"We must reject terrorism and extremism because we alone will be the losers if we don't," he said.
Earlier Musharraf had met President George W. Bush in New York over breakfast where the latter showered fulsome praise on the Pakistani president for his role as a frontline ally in the war on terror and pledged $3 billion in largesse over five years for shoring up its security and social sector.
He also commended Pakistan's "cooperation to stop the proliferation of the weapons of mass destruction" and thanked him for his "efforts in supporting out-of-country voting in Pakistan" for the coming elections in Afghanistan.
The Bush-Musharraf meeting came a day after he had a similar breakfast meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Both Singh and Musharraf were in New York to address the 59th session of the UN General Assembly.
Despite Bush's effusive support for Musharraf, major American papers have sounded a note of caution against aligning too closely with him while at the same time recognising that his help remained crucial in the war on terror.
"But if Musharraf breaks his promise to give up his army office, the Bush administration can at least express its disapproval. Pakistanis should know that our partnership with him is in spite of his authoritarian instincts, not because of them," the Chicago Tribune said in an editorial.
The editorial went on to say: "If Pakistan is ever going to become a stable, prosperous nation, it is not likely to happen under the rule of the military, which has repeatedly tried and failed. Despite his promises of fundamental reforms, what Musharraf offers is not democracy, and it is not sustainable."