WATCH: When Pervez Musharraf said, 'Taliban, Haqqani, Osama bin Laden, Kashmir terrorists are Pakistan's heroes'

New Delhi: In an undated interview clip shared by Pakistani politician Farhatullah Babar back in 2019, Pervez Musharraf can be heard saying, ‘Taliban, Haqqani, Osama bin Laden, Kashmir terrorists are Pakistan’s heroes’.

Pervez Musharraf can be heard saying, "Kashmiris who came to Pakistan received a hero reception here. We used to train them and support them. We considered them as Mujahideen who will fight with the Indian Army. Then, various terrorist organisations like Lashkar-e-Taiba rose in this period. They (jihadi terrorists) were our heroes."

In 1979, we had introduced religious militancy in Afghanistan to benefit Pakistan, and to push the Soviets out of the country. We brought Mujahideen from all over the world, we trained them and supplied weapons to them. We trained the Taliban, sent them in. They were our heroes. Haqqani was our hero. Osama bin Laden was our hero. Ayman al-Zawahiri was our hero. Then the global environment changed. The world started viewing things differently. Our heroes were turned into villains," he added.

Former Pakistan president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf passed away due to prolonged illness at a Dubai hospital on Sunday. He was 79.

Musharraf, 79, had been undergoing treatment for an ailment at an American Hospital Dubai.

Musharraf was suffering from amyloidosis, a rare disease caused by a build-up of an abnormal protein called amyloid in organs and tissues throughout the body, The Express Tribune reported.

Pervez Musharraf and the Kargil war

Musharraf was the main architect of the Kargil War that took place months after then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif signed a historic peace accord with his Indian counterpart Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Lahore.

After his failed misadventure in Kargil, Musharraf deposed the then Prime Minister Sharif in a bloodless coup in 1999 and ruled Pakistan from 1999 to 2008 in various positions, first as the chief executive of Pakistan and later as the President.

The four-star general was ruling Pakistan as a “chief executive” when the 9/11 attacks on the US took place and swiftly aligned with Washington during its military intervention in neighbouring Afghanistan.

After the December 2007 assassination of Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, his allies suffered crushing losses in the 2008 elections, leaving him isolated.

Musharraf’s plan to return to power in 2013 was dashed when he was disqualified from running in an election won by Sharif, whom he had deposed in 1999.

In March 2014, Musharraf was indicted for suspending the Constitution on 3 November, 2007.

In December 2019, a special court handed Musharraf a death sentence in the high treason case against him.

The former military ruler left the country in March 2016 for Dubai to seek medical treatment.

Musharraf was born on 11 August, 1943 in Delhi. His family moved from New Delhi to Karachi in 1947. He joined the Pakistan Army in 1964 and was a graduate of the Army Staff and Command College, Quetta.

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