Commenting on the killing of former Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi on Thursday, former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf said there are good and bad dictators, as a good dictators job is to facilitate democracy.
Musharraf – who came to power after deposing his political rival, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif – told an audience in Arkansas that, “Dictatorship should facilitate democracy, should ensure that the country transforms into a workable, sustainable democracy. That is the job of a good dictator.”
He said that Gaddafi did not pass that test, adding that after decades of Gaddafi’s rule, Libya was “as illiterate, as backward, as underdeveloped and not prepared for democracy.”
On Pak-US relations, Musharraf said both countries were to be blamed for a relationship that has reached its lowest point and remains plagued by “total mistrust”.
The Pakistani military was guilty of “terrible negligence” in allowing Osama bin Laden to go undetected before he was killed in a US raid and Pakistan had not done enough to target the Haqqani network.
Musharraf said that neither Pakistan nor the US could defeat militants on their own.
Musharraf on Gaddafi: there are good and bad dictators
