Zardari speak: 'Musharraf didn't protect Benazir'

Islamabad, Jan 10 : Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf failed to provide security cover to Benazir Bhutto which he had promised to the slain PPP leader at a meeting with her in Abu Dhabi, Benazir's husband and PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari has said.

He said that Musharraf had promised "tight" security to Benazir once she returned to Pakistan from her almost one decade exile in London.

"He [Musharraf] had assured Benazir of free, fair and transparent elections and tight security on her return to Pakistan, but he has failed to do so," the Daily Times quoted Zardari as saying in his maiden interview with an Urdu newspaper after being installed as the PPP Co-chairman.

Security arrangements for Benazir were not satisfactory, Zardari said and added that her security officials had informed the government about flaws in her security plans.

To a question if his party would accept Musharraf as president in case PPP wins the February 18 polls, he said the decision would be taken after "winning the elections". "The government does not seem to be serious in holding elections. The international community and political forces in Pakistan should play their role to ensure free and fair elections on time," he added.

Zardari said the government had made Benazir's murder a mystery. "That incident took place in the presence of thousands of people. Declaring that Benazir died after hitting her head on the lever of the sunroof is foolish," he said.

Calling for a UN probe into Benazir's assassination, he said that he wants the investigation to be carried out on specific points. "PPP lawyers have prepared a letter highlighting the points on which the party wants the investigation to be carried out," the PPP co-chairman said, adding that a team of investigators from different countries should be formed under the supervision of the UN.

Doubting on the credentials of the Pakistani investigators, he said they were "unreliable", because the culprits were too strong and powerful for the investigators to nominate them. "In a country where a popular leadership can be killed in broad daylight, why will local investigators put their lives at stake," he elaborated.

ANI