Pak ready for autopsy on Bhutto's body if exhumation allowed

Islamabad, Dec 30 (UNI) Pakistan government was ready for an autopsy on former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's body after permission by her family to clarify any reservations about the cause of her death, Interior Ministry stated.

''If Pakistan People's Party has reservations about the cause of death of Benazir Bhutto they should take permission from her family to exhume her body and the government has no objection to an autopsy,'' Ministry spokesperson Javed Iqbal Cheema said.

It was very important to uncover the perpetrators behind the heinous crime of Bhutto's killing.

''The facts provided by the government about the incident were very valid and it has no need to conceal the facts,''The Associated Press of Pakistan quoted him as saying.

Asked about Baitullah Mehsud's denial in being involved in Bhutto's killing, the spokesman said, the ministry had credible evidence against him.

To a question about engaging foreign experts to investigate the assassination, Brig Cheema said this was not an ordinary criminal case but a high profile case of terrorism which had links to Waziristan.

''A foreign expert cannot go there or interact with the people of Waziristan. Moreover, our security personnel are capable of tracing the people involved in this crime,'' he said.

''Nawaz Sharif, Maulana Fazal ur Rehman, Sheikh Rashid, Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, Amir Muqam and other political leaders were also on the hit list of Al-Qaeda. The government would provide full security to them within its resources,'' he said.

Official statistics show that 38 people were killed and 53 injured during last two days, while criminal elements have torched 200 banks in the country and ransacked 181 government offices since Bhutto's assassination.

More than 370 vehicles were burnt, 61 others damaged, while 71 railway coaches were torched by the miscreants. As many as 765 shops and private offices had been damaged and 19 were set ablaze.

The spokesperson said the criminal elements broke judicial lock ups and helped over 100 prisoners escape from there.

Troops have been deployed in various affected places in Sindh in aid of rangers and police on the request of the provincial government. The law enforcement agencies in other parts of the country are also on high alert to deal with the anti-state elements and arsonists.

UNI