Musharraf defends terrorist groups

8220;You in the West are allergic to the term jehad but jehadis a tolerant concept,quot; he said.

Harkat Ul-Mujaheed HUM is among the organisations that are waging a 8220;violent jehad8221; against India and is believed to be behind hijack of the Indian Airlines8217; plane in December last year, the magazine said.

The group keeps training bases in Afghanistan but its leader Fazlur Rahman Khalil has an office in Rawalpindi, not far from General Musharraf8217;s house and moves freely in Pakistan, it says.

8220;These people are not terrorists. They are fighting a jehad,8221; Musharraf said.

The interview is published as a part of an article on relgious schools.

The articles says some one million students from eight to 35 years of age are studying in 10,000 or so madarsas and militant Islam is in the core of most of these schools. Some of them are sponsored by Pakistan8217;s relgious parties and some are affiliated with the Mujahideen groups fighting jehad in Kashmir.

Musharraf also defended the role of religious schools. 8220;Very few of these schools are engaged in any kind of militancy. Most of them are humanitarian. They give food and lodging to the poor people,8221; he said.

Asked if he believes in the American assessment that Osama Bin Laden to be a terrorist, he did not reply the question directly.

quot;If he is involved in planning or conducting bombings or hijackings, he is a terrorist,8221; he said.

Pressed whether he doubted American claim that Bin Laden is a terrorist, Musharraf said, 8220;The Taliban has a stand on the subject. They say they need proof which has not been given to them. We have asked for the proof from the US. And we are in the process of getting this. From legal point of view, I haven8217;t seen the proof.8221;