Pakistan will help Azerbaijan return Karabakh
During a closed meeting with Heydar Aliyev at the ECO summit in Tehran, Pakistani military leader General Parviz Musharraf proposed a radical way to resolve the Karabakh problem to the President of Azerbaijan. The general promised “any military assistance” for the return of Karabakh.

Musharraf himself told reporters about this at the end of his meeting with Aliyev. “The ways to resolve the Karabakh problem are an internal matter of Azerbaijan. Karabakh is an integral part of this state. Azerbaijan can close this problem by any means it pleases,” Musharraf said. And he promised that if Baku chooses a military solution to the conflict, Islamabad will provide it with military assistance. At the same time, the Pakistani leader clarified that we are talking about any form of military support, including the participation of the Pakistani military on the side of the Azerbaijani army. In response, Heydar Aliyev assured that Azerbaijan has always supported Pakistan's military position in resolving the Kashmir problem. Such a reckless statement caused a harsh reaction from New Delhi: Indian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Binkar Hollar yesterday expressed his protest to Foreign Minister Vilayat Guliyev.
In Baku, Parviz Musharraf's "peacekeeping proposal" was treated with attention. The head of the international department of the presidential apparatus, Novruz Mammadov, said that Azerbaijan “was happy to hear that Pakistan is showing great interest in Azerbaijan and supports Baku in its struggle for the liberation of the occupied territories.” As for military cooperation, Musharraf's statement about his readiness to provide military support to Azerbaijan shows that Baku can count on a serious ally in resolving the Karabakh issue.
This position of Islamabad did not come as a surprise. Warm relations between Azerbaijan and Pakistan have a fairly long history. Pakistan was the second country after Turkey to recognize the independence of Azerbaijan. In response, Baku declared its support for Islamabad on the Kashmir issue. And General Musharraf has repeatedly demanded from Yerevan “the unconditional withdrawal of troops from the occupied Azerbaijani lands.” Baku immediately remembered that Musharraf was born in Turkey and has a reputation as a friend of Ankara, which, in turn, is considered Azerbaijan’s closest ally.
The President of Azerbaijan hastened to take advantage of the situation and once again confirmed Baku’s readiness to provide Nagorno-Karabakh with a high degree of autonomy.

MOVSUN Y-MAMEDOV, Baku

Newspaper "Kommersant" No. 105 dated June 14, 2000, p. 11

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