Musharraf harmed Kashmir issue, plunged Pakistan into crisis: minister

Islamabad: Former president of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf harmed the cause of Kashmir the most and the issue would have been solved by now if the military ruler had not overthrown a democratically-elected government in a 1999 coup, federal information minister Pervaiz Rashid claimed on Saturday.

Musharraf, 71, took over in a coup in 1999 after the Kargil War, for which he is considered to be the chief architect, months after the then Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee visited Lahore for talks.

Rashid told media the military dictator had harmed the Kashmir cause the most. "Kashmir issue would have been solved by now and Pakistan would not be facing energy crisis and terrorism, had Musharraf not overturned a democratic government in 1999," said Rashid, referring to the ouster of Nawaz Sharif by Musharraf.

He accused Musharraf of using the ISI intelligence agency to cobble up a political party which he termed as the 'political party of Aabpara', a reference to ISI headquarters in Pakistan's Capital Islamabad.

To a question, he said that Kashmir was the central issue with India and it was discussed during the meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in Ufa, Russia.