The Hindu : Musharraf helped capture over 500 terrorists: Bush

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 26, 2003

International

International

Musharraf helped capture over 500 terrorists: Bush

CAMP DAVID (Maryland) JUNE 25. The U.S. President, George W. Bush, said on Tuesday ``it's just a matter of time" before terrorist leaders such as Osama bin Laden and the deposed Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, were captured.

Mr. Bush said it could take days, months or years before the U.S. and its allies completed the search for terrorist leaders. "We're just on the hunt," he said at a news conference with Pakistani President, Pervez Musharraf.

"It doesn't matter how long it takes, Mr. President," Mr. Bush said, nodding to Gen. Musharraf.

Mr. Bush did not directly answer a reporter's question about the whereabouts of Osama or Mr. Hussein, saying "there are more than two principals at large".

"There's more than two principals at large. There are terrorists who still have designs on destabilising the Pakistani Government and/or destroying innocent life. You named two," Mr. Bush said. "There are others around, too, and we are just on the hunt, and we'll find them. It's a matter of time."

Gen. Musharraf said his Government was making extraordinary efforts to track down Osama and his lieutenants. For the first time, his military was searching tribal border areas that had not been entered by the army in more than a century. He called these regions "treacherous" territory.

Gen. Musharraf has said he thinks Osama may be alive in Pakistan.

But, he told a reporter, "whether Osama bin Laden is here or across the border, your guess, sir, would be as good as mine, so I wouldn't like to venture into a guess".

Mr. Bush credited Gen. Musharraf with capturing more than 500 Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders, and he called Gen. Musharraf "a courageous leader" and a friend of the U.S.

Gen. Musharraf basked in the prestige of Bush's Camp David invitation, and thanked the U.S. President for the "special gesture". Gen. Musharraf was the first Southeast Asian leader to get such an invitation.

Mr. Bush said he was encouraged by progress India and Pakistan had made in easing tensions over Kashmir and other issues, and he pledged that "we will do all we can to promote peace".

He also praised Gen. Musharraf for setting out to build "a modern Pakistan that is tolerant and prosperous," but said that "will require movement toward democracy." — AP

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