Musharraf is a benevolent dictator: Canadian daily

President Pervez Musharraf has been largely a benevolent dictator, a Canadian daily has said.

Washington, Jan 7 : President Pervez Musharraf has been "largely a benevolent dictator", a Canadian daily has said.

Toronto Star said that while Musharraf gets a bad press, Benazir Bhutto has got one that is kind, and added that today's Pakistan should not be compared with Iran in the Shah's last days.

Until Benazir's assassination, the country stayed rather stable except in its lawless tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

"Until now, Musharraf has rarely cracked the whip. His riot police act with relative moderation. His jails are not full. Executions are rare and never for political offences. Pakistan today is not Iran of yesterday, neither in the type of leadership nor in its degree of religious fervour: the Islamist parties have never gained more than 11 percent of the vote in a free election," the paper said.

The paper said that Musharraf is a down-to-earth army man, who when younger loved to test his "macho side."

It was under Musharraf that Pakistan extended the olive branch to India over Kashmir. The Kashmiri support network has been closed down by Musharraf, which does not stop the militants from drawing their military requirements elsewhere or stop them organising bomb attacks in India from time to time.

Nor does it stop them working with the Taliban and the other militants of northwest Pakistan, it added.

A peace agreement with India on the lines proposed by Musharraf would shut down Kashmir-grown militancy once and for all, the Daily Times reported.

ANI