ISLAMABAD, 14 August 2007 — Benazir Bhutto, exiled two-time prime minister of Pakistan, said President Pervez Musharraf is not doing enough to wipe out terrorist groups and that the country needs to do more.
Bhutto, who has insisted that the president must resign his second role as head of the military, said Pakistan should be working harder with NATO and the United States to eliminate militants.
“Whether Gen. Musharraf is colluding in what is happening, or whether he is ineffective in dealing with it... the net result is the same,” she said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
“The military regime needs the threat of Al-Qaeda and the militants to justify military rule, to justify derailment of democracy and also because it brings the (aid) money in,” she said.
“You see, if there is no threat, there is no money.” The president conceded Sunday at a meeting of tribal leaders in the Afghan capital Kabul that Taleban militants have been operating in and from Pakistan.
But he has been angered by US criticisms for failing to curtail militant activities in the tribal areas of the Hindu Kush bordering Afghanistan, and has drawn threats of unilateral US air strikes on the region.
Benazir also told the paper that she plans to return to Pakistan soon, amid calls from Musharraf for her and another exiled former premier, Nawaz Sharif, to stay away to avoid stirring up turmoil.
Facing his biggest crisis since he seized power from Sharif in a 1999 coup, Musharraf is reportedly looking to cut a deal with Benazir’s opposition Pakistan People’s Party to bolster his support.
She said she did not know why there had been no official confirmation that she met Musharraf in Abu Dhabi last month to discuss a power-sharing deal, but told the newspaper: “We have been in negotiations with Gen. Musharraf.”
