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| I shouldn’t be blamed for Bugti’s killing: Musharraf |
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Tuesday, October 20, 2009
By Sami Abraham
NEW YORK: Former president Pervez Musharraf says he was not running the government but was only head of the state when Baloch leader Akbar Bugti was killed, adding he should not be blamed for the incident.
Talking to media persons after attending a reception hosted in his honour here on Sunday night, Musharraf said he could not be accused of Akbar Bugti’s killing because at that time there was a chief minister, a prime minister and others, who were running the government affairs.
Replying to a question, he categorically denied that his exit from power or leaving the country was part of any deal. “I am here to deliver a series of lectures. I have not quit power as a result of any deal or any assurance from anybody,” said the former president in a very strong tone.
When asked if the Army did not do the right thing by openly expressing reservations over the Kerry-Lugar Bill, he said the whole nation agitated the bill and if the Army believed that it was getting affected by it, it was its right to speak out. He said if any clause of the bill was compromising Pakistan’s sovereignty, the nation should reject it.
Musharraf said he did not want to speak on the NRO issue because the matter was in the court and now parliament was also ready to debate it. Asked why the corrupt politicians were allowed to return to the country, he said that he was not a judge and had to allow return of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto because even the Swiss courts were not able to convict her after 12 years of litigations.
He said when he left the office of the president the country was in a good shape but since then the situation has deteriorated and the government has failed to perform its duties. He said the Waziristan operation was a right step in the right direction because the terrorists needed to be eliminated and he would wish success for the Pakistan Army in this ongoing operation against the militants.
On the Lal Masjid operation, the former president said his decision to have a security operation in the Lal Masjid was a right one, claiming no innocent women or children were killed there as portrayed by a section of the press. “There were armed militants hiding over there who were involved in acts of terrorism and security forces conducted operation against them,” he said.
About his meeting with Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Agra, Musharraf said it was decided between him and Vajpayee that the joint declaration would include that Kashmir was a dispute between India and Pakistan and it would be settled through political negotiations but the then Indian prime minister backed out of it at the last moment. He said then a second draft of the joint declaration was prepared with some changes but Vajpayee backed out of that again.
“I did not like it and wanted to leave right away but could not do so because of the advice of our foreign secretary. I also wanted to talk to the press about the issue but could not do so either as the press was not allowed to come to the hotel where I was staying and we were not allowed to go to the press due to security reasons,” Musharraf added.
Online adds: Musharraf said if the United States had accepted the Taliban government in Afghanistan, neither 9/11 could have happened nor terrorism would have increased. He said former US president Bill Clinton during his visit to Pakistan had been asked to establish diplomatic ties with the Taliban government.
He said the United States and Afghanistan had brought nearly 25,000 Mujahideen and Osama bin Laden to Afghanistan for Jihad, adding, the Taliban had control over 90 per cent area of Afghanistan.
About the murder of Nawab Akbar Bugti, the former president said Bugti’s killing was the result of a military operation there and anyone who spoke or worked against the country’s interest should not be forgiven. About the current energy crisis, he said Kalabagh Dam should be constructed to overcome the energy crisis.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
