Former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has called on India to not 'overreact' to the terror strike on the Pathankot Indian Air Force base saying that both nations were victims of extremism and also accused New Delhi of creating pressure on Islamabad over terrorism.
Speaking in an interview to a Pakistani news channel, Musharraf said that terrorism was prevalent in both India and Pakistan because of which incidents such as Pathankot would keep happening.
"Terrorism is prevalent in both India and Pakistan. We are also victims of the same, so we should not overreact to what happened in Pathankot. Yes, of course we want to control such incidents, but one should get hyper over such incidents," Musharraf said.
"India's first reaction to every terrorist attack is Pakistan but India is not free of terrorism or extremism itself," he added.
Accusing New Delhi of creating pressure on Islamabad when it came to terror attacks, the former president alleged that terrorism and extremism was quite prevalent in India as well.
"India simply can't create pressure on Pakistan when it comes to terrorism. We may be a small country but we have honour of our own. There are areas in India where extremism is rampant. India always treats terrorism as a one-sided issue. They can't just bulldoze us when something happens there," Musharraf said.
He also said that there was a lot of 'disgruntlement' among the Muslim community in India since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power.
Comparing the prime minister's leadership with that of his former counterpart Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he added that ties between India and Pakistan had flourished under the latter as he was more 'sincere' in his approach.
"I interacted with Vajpayee sahab and at the time we had very good ties with India. It all comes down to leadership in the end. We were moving forward with him and (former prime minister) Manmohan (Singh) sahab. Unfortunately, it's not working under Modi’s leadership. His popularity has dampened post his loss in Delhi and Bihar," Musharraf said.
"Vajapayee and Manmohan were more sincere when it came to resolving dispute. A good leader is always flexible. Things can't work out if you are hell-bent on your own stand," he added.
Downplaying Modi's recent visit to Islamabad, he added that it was just a case of 'showmanship' and there was nothing substantial about his visit.
"I know what he said in Afghanistan. He arrived in Pakistan after badmouthing Pakistan there. What kind of attitude is that? Badmouthing us when it comes to something substantial and then showing off by coming here? So I don't place much importance to his visit. I simply look at the substance, which is missing," he said.
