I have nothing to answer on Benazir’s murder: Musharraf

LONDON: Former president Pervez Musharraf said yesterday that he had not received any questions related to the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December 2007 and his role in it.
Media reports claimed that a 32-point questionnaire had been sent to the former military ruler questioning his role leading up to the assassination of the former premier and the aftermath of the tragedy.
Speaking to journalists here on the launch the UK unit of his party, Musharraf, who has recently returned from USA after an extensive visit, said when Benazir was killed he was entitled to presidential indemnity, therefore any questionnaire carries no value to him.
Musharraf again attacked Nawaz Sharif and declared that he will not put up with any “non-sense” from Nawaz Sharif’s camp and vowed that he will teach PML-N a lesson if attacks on his person continued.
The News asked him why he didn’t criticise the PPP leadership, which has accused him of being involved in Benazir’s murder but let him leave the country with protocol and continues to provide him with official protocol abroad.
The self-exiled former military leader replied: “I come under attack from PML-N and don’t think PPP is as venomous towards me as PML-N, that’s why it is clear who my target is.” But he added that the current civilian government was so incompetent that any comparison of his years in governance with the current set-up incensed and shamed him.
Musharraf said he was surprised that he was being linked with every ill that happened to Pakistan during his reign and lamented that commentators and people simply forget that he was heading the institutions and not micro-managing the country as is generally believed. He said whether it was the murder of Benazir Bhutto or Nawab Bugti or Lal Masjid operation, there were dozens of people involved at different layers of the decision-making who took the decisions and it had nothing to do with him in person.
Musharraf said Nawaz Sharif nurtures personal vendetta against him and claimed that the establishment doesn’t trust Nawaz Sharif because of his temperament and his mood swings. He said Nawaz Sharif was a flawed leader who cannot work in a team as he failed to work with army chiefs, the judiciary and easily picked up fights. He even suspected that Nawaz Sharif could be behind the murder of former military leader Asif Nawaz who was poisoned to death.
Musharraf said he was heartened by the “high level of emotional support” he received from his supporters in the western countries and said this support exactly corresponded with the rising level of support for his political programme in Pakistan. He said his party offered change, away from what he called the hereditary mafia - “including sons-in-law”.
He said uniting various Muslim League factions was his idea and called the current assembly of some Muslim Leagues as devoid of any serious political or alternative programme. He said many people in some Muslim Leagues were only fair-weather friends and he had had enough of them. Musharraf praised former Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi as a highly competent administrator.
Musharraf is flying to Nigeria today to address a couple of planned gatherings and then he will fly to Jordan where has been invited by the King of Jordan to be his family guest for a night.