Date:18/10/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/10/18/stories/2007101861821800.htm

International

Pakistan is facing warlordism: Benazir

Atul Aneja

DUBAI: The former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on Wednesday said, “Pakistan could end up with war-lordism and ethnic cleansing. We need to learn lessons from history”.

Addressing a crowded press conference here, she said that Pakistan’s far-flung Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) had to be better governed in order to counter militancy. “We should recall that both PPP governments, from 1988-1990 and 1993-1996, aggressively administered these territories, and purged them of the most egregious drug barons that formed an international drug cartel.”

Ms. Bhutto said that it was necessary that she and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf worked together to address extremism in the future.

“I think both the sides recognise that it’s the future of Pakistan that is at stake.” On another occasion, she observed that “it had not been easy for [Gen.] Musharraf and it had not been easy for me” to break common ground. Last week, Ms. Bhutto had said that it was not Gen. Musharraf, but his allies in the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) who did not wish to see her return to Pakistan.

Unfazed by the death threats from Pakistani and Arab extremists, Ms. Bhutto said that any suicide bomber attacking a woman would “burn in hell” according to Islamic law.

“I have been told that there is a threat to my life if I go back. But I must tell those who would hurt me that I will not be intimidated. I do not fear the extremists, for I have put my fate in the hands of the people of Pakistan, and my faith in God.”

Diplomatic sources told The Hindu, that Ms. Bhutto was being accorded “multi-layered security” that included an elaborate surveillance cover and ample deployment of personnel.