ISLAMABAD/LODHRAN, 26 December 2007 — Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto yesterday accused President Pervez Musharraf of failing to stop the spread of militants and promised to crack down on the groups if she wins elections.
Benazir spoke to about 4,000 supporters in the central city of Lodhran as the campaign for the Jan. 8 poll intensified.
The poll is seen as crucial to restoring democracy after a six-week state of emergency accompanied by a crackdown on the independent judiciary and perceived government opponents.
The election will also have deep implications for the future of former army chief Musharraf’s administration, which is seen as a key US ally in the war on terror.
Benazir, a former prime minister who returned from exile to lead her opposition party in the poll, said extremism and terror flourished across the country since Musharraf took over eight years ago.
“The areas between Pakistan and Afghanistan became a haven for extremists, and the extremism and terrorism is flowing down into other areas,” she said.
If elected, her party would clear the extremists from Pakistan, she said.
In her campaign speech, Benazir said — under a slogan of “Food, Clothing and Shelter” — her party would give people better health, education and job opportunities.
“We want to see Pakistan become a modern, progressive and prosperous state, where people should enjoy a good life and better living,” she said.
Nawaz Sharif, another former premier, who returned from exile for the campaign, also criticized Musharraf at a rally of more than 5,000 people in the southern city of Rahim Yar Khan. He said Musharraf’s rule embarrassed the country, and he accused the ruling party of destroying the economy.
“Pervez Musharraf’s government made the people’s lives miserable. They cannot buy bread for their families due to extreme price hikes and inflation,” said Sharif, who is banned from running for office but was campaigning on behalf of his party’s candidates. Referring to the founder of the nation, Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, whose birth anniversary was celebrated across Pakistan yesterday, Sharif said Jinnah would not have allowed the country’s constitution to be violated by some vested interests. “Some people repeatedly violated the constitution. They hanged an elected prime minister and dismembered Pakistan,” Sharif said referring to the hanging of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Benazir’s father by Gen. Zia-ul-Haq and the disintegration of Pakistan in 1971.
Sharif asked the crowd whether they would vote for the party that got a serving general elected as president, and the crowed shouted, “no.” Sharif was referring to the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) that helped Musharraf win presidential election.
Meanwhile, despite government operations against militants, Taleban and Al-Qaeda fighters have recently extended their influence in the northwest and launched numerous suicide attacks in the country.
In violence late Monday, masked rebels armed with a rocket ambushed a pickup truck carrying seven men from a pro-government tribe near the town of Nilagh, about 350 kilometers east of the southwestern city of Quetta, said Najamuddin Tareen, the area police chief said yesterday. At least four people were killed in the attack, he said.
The Baloch Liberation Army, a militant group demanding greater rights and increased royalties for gas and minerals in the southwestern province of Balochistan, claimed responsibility, according to Sarbaz Baloch, who said he was a spokesman for the group.
