Osama bin Laden Was Pakistan's Hero, Says Pervez Musharraf in an Undated Video Clip

New Delhi: In an undated interview clip shared on Twitter by a Pakistani politician, the country’s former President Pervez Musharraf can be heard claiming that terrorists like Osama bin Laden and Jalaluddin Haqqani were "Pakistani heroes".

Musharraf also admitted that Kashmiris were "trained in Pakistan" as Mujahideen to fight against the Indian Army in Jammu and Kashmir.

"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," the former Pakistani President can be heard saying in the interview clip shared by Pakistani politician Farhatullah Babar.

Admitting that jihadi terrorists were considered heroes in Pakistan, the former military ruler said, “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.”

General (retd) Musharraf, 76, who has been living in Dubai since March 2016, is facing the treason case for suspending the Constitution in 2007, a punishable offence for which he was indicted in 2014.

Recent reports recently claimed that he is set to return to the politics by reviving his party after remaining inactive for over a year due to his deteriorating health.

Musharraf, who ruled Pakistan from 1999 to 2008, has been declared a fugitive in the Benazir Bhutto assassination and the Red Mosque cleric killing case.