Ex-ISI chief Hamid Gul says Benazir implicated him in Karachi blasts on US' direction

Islamabad, Oct 18 : Former ISI chief Hameed Gul has revealed that former prime minister Benazir Bhutto had named him in the October 18, 2007, Karachi blasts - better known as Karsaz bridge carnage - on the US' directions, and that she had conveyed this to him through three different intermediaries after he had served a legal notice on her immediately after the allegation was made last year.

He said he would not shy away from any probe into the case and also his involvement.

"I can provide evidence with regard to communication with Ms. Bhutto. I have no plan to seek pre-arrest bail as I am willing to join any probe. The investigators are not required to arrest me since I am available for questioning." "Why has the government not moved against Pervez Musharraf who was named by late Ms. Bhutto in her last message to Mark Siegel for planning to assassinate her? Is it because Musharraf is America's blue-eyed boy?" The News quoted him as saying in Islamabad yesterday.

Gul said that naming him in the case was yet another ridiculous action of the administration. "Perhaps they would get some additional dollars from the US on this 'achievement' but the question remained who benefited from this horrendous act," he said.

He reiterated that he would not escape the country or go underground on account of the registration of the case.

Meanwhile, former IB chief Syed Ejaz Shah, who has also been named in the fresh FIR by the PPP, is still in Pakistan contrary to reports that he had left the country for to settle in Australia. He is said to be currently staying in Lahore.

ANI