The Hindu : Front Page : I have a blank cheque, says Musharraf

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 16, 2005

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Front Page

I have a blank cheque, says Musharraf

By Our Diplomatic Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MARCH 15. The question of which cricket match the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, will watch in the ongoing India-Pakistan series in India continued today.

Senior officials dealing with the issue said they hoped to finalise the "when and where" of his visit shortly.

Gen. Musharraf said today in Islamabad that he had a "blank cheque" to watch any of the matches in India.

In an interview to BBC, he was quoted as saying: "Now I have been invited to India and I have a blank cheque to watch any of the matches. More important than the match, I would like to meet Indian leaders and I know there is desire on the other side, and I look forward to making this meeting a little more concrete, to move the process forward."

`Strengthen moderates'

Gen. Musharraf felt that it was important to strengthen the moderates.

"If we fail, we will have weakened the moderates and strengthened the extremists because the extremists don't think that a political solution is possible, while the moderates like I do say `yes we will resolve it politically.'

The whole world should understand this," he said tonight.

However, the Indian side has been stressing on the "cricket" aspects of the visit.

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