LONDON, 19 May 2008 — Fatima Bhutto, niece of the slain former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, said in comments published yesterday that she would continue to pursue her aunt’s widower, Asif Ali Zardari, whom she accuses of involvement in her father’s death.

Fatima’s father — Benazir’s brother, Murtaza — was killed in 1996 in an ambush that Fatima blames on both Benazir and Zardari who is now the head of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

“We are currently waiting for Zardari’s acquittal judgment. But I am not going to give up this struggle. I am not going to sit down quietly. This is about justice. I will continue to do all I can to stand between Zardari and a clean record,” Fatima told The Sunday Times in an interview.

Zardari is set to be acquitted of four murder charges, including the one for Murtaza, and several corruption allegations under the terms of an agreement — the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) — between Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and Benazir.

The newspaper said the NRO, which dismisses all outstanding charges against political figures, had been signed by Musharraf under pressure from the US and had been insisted upon by Benazir before her return to Pakistan last year.

Fatima also blames Benazir for Murtaza’s murder, telling the newspaper: “If she didn’t sign the death warrant, then who else had the power to cover it up? I would love to believe in the innocence of my aunt, but why else did she so obviously obstruct the investigation?”

A tribunal set up to probe Murtaza’s killing concluded the assassination could not have taken place “without approval from the highest level of government.”

Asked if she feared for her own safety, Fatima said: “Well, I am certainly very afraid for this country. Even before Zardari, this was a country where anything can happen, a country whose own people regularly disappear... You just don’t know what’s waiting for you, especially if you stand up and say what you think.

“So perhaps I should be anxious. After all, this man knows no limits. He has a record. He has, as they say, form. And he is now clearly indulging in the politics of revenge and retribution. It’s nothing new — it is how he has always been. But what can you do? You just have to carry on as you can, and try to tell the truth as you see it.”