VARIOUS: Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto warns of Taliban threat to Pakistan

The Taliban must be defeated in Pakistan this year or the country risks falling under the sway of extremists much as Afghanistan did before Sept. 11, 2001, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said on Friday (March 16). Bhutto, who hopes to return from exile and run for prime minister again in elections this year, also warned that the judicial crisis gripping Pakistan could spin out of control and underscores the importance of restoring civilian rule. "The Taliban were destroyed after 9/11. They were defeated, they were demoralized, they were on the run. But because there was no transition to democracy, the pro-Taliban forces exploited that to regroup and now they have regrouped, they have become very bold. They have an irregular army. They pay regular salaries to their soldiers. They dispense justice. They behead people who are accused of being spies. They stone people who are accused of adultery. They have actually established a mini-state in the tribal areas of Pakistan which is very worrying to the rest of the people of Pakistan. My fear is that if these forces are not stopped in 2007, they are going to try to take on the state of Pakistan itself," Bhutto told Reuters in an interview. Other commentators have warned of the dangers to Pakistan of a resurgent Taliban, which was routed from power in neighbouring Afghanistan by the U.S. invasion following the Sept. 11 attacks. Bhutto said the Taliban comeback was particularly dire because Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was unable to suppress elements of the Pakistani security forces that remain sympathetic to the Taliban. Musharraf also has been exploiting the presence of the extreme Islamist movement as a rationale for maintaining his military rule beyond general elections due before the end of 2007, she said. "General Musharraf does say that he wants to go after the terrorists, he wants to go after the forces that support the Taliban. But he's unable to do it and perhaps the reason is that he relies on the military-security apparatus. He doesn't rely on the people," Bhutto said from her service apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, where she lives with her ailing husband when she's not working for her return to Pakistani politics from Dubai. Bhutto added that the people in the areas suspected of harbouring terrorists must see that it is in their benefit to kick out the extremist forces. To that end she proposes a renewed commitment to health, education and infrastructure in tribal areas. In the absence of government welfare, Islamist religious schools have stepped in, winning over the poor population, she said. Bhutto, 53, became the first female prime minister in the Muslim world when she was elected in 1988 at age 35. She was deposed in 1990, re-elected in 1993, and ousted again in 1996. Bhutto plans to return for the elections with her secular Pakistan Peoples Party, but there are questions about under what kind of conditions she is able to go back. Through third parties, she is negotiating her return with Musharraf, who has passed a law banning her from seeking a third term. She also faces allegations of graft which she says were fabricated. Her immediate concern was the crisis created by ouster of the country's Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary, who was suspended a week ago after a meeting with Musharraf. On Friday, Pakistani police fired tear gas, detained about 150 activists and raided a television station as protesters took to the streets calling for Chaudhary's reinstatement. "The judicial crisis highlights one very important fact - that if you don't bring about a peaceful political transfer, that events could get out of control because there is a lot of frustration. And the judicial crisis has touched raw nerve which has shown how deep-seeded the frustration within Pakistan is. So, I believe It's important for all of us who want a stable Pakistan to work for a transition to democracy, to prevent extremists tomorrow taking advantage of the frustration that exists in the streets of Pakistan," Bhutto said. She emphasized that in the forthcoming elections in Pakistan, she believed that the people would vote for her party or for the party led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, but not for Musharraf. Both the exiled leaders have vowed to return to Pakistan by the time of the 2007 general elections in a bid to try to oust the country's military ruler through the ballot box.

ITN Source | March 17, 2007

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