'Not a prized tractor'

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, NOV. 26. The former Pakistan Prime Minister, Ms. Benazir Bhutto today expressed opposition to the nuclearisation of South Asia even while confessing to being ``terrified'' by the prospect of annihilation by nuclear bomb. Responding to a question at a CII meeting, she chided elements in both India and Pakistan who viewed the bomb as a ``prized tractor''.

``There is little effort to show people the impact of nuclear annihilation,'' she said adding that pictures of Hiroshima and Nagasaki need to be widely publicised.

Since the question was posed in the context of her late father's statement supporting the development of the nuclear bomb in Pakistan, she said this was a view held about 30 years ago.

``Today is a different world and it is important for leaders to make decisions in the light of the changed situation,'' she said. At the same time, it was ``awkward'' for her to comment on the former Pakistan Prime Minister, Z.A. Bhutto's policies in areas where she differed from him. ``I am sure he would be proud of me for taking an independent point of view,'' she said. ``I would like to be a leader with a difference to make South Asia a safer place for all of us,'' she added.

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