Musharraf calls for Bhutto's exhumation
Posted 8 hours 26 minutes ago
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf called for the body of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto to be exhumed as he rejected charges that the Government was complicit in her assassination.
In a wide-ranging interview with Newsweek magazine published online, Mr Musharraf also again refused to let the United States launch CIA operations against Al Qaeda in Pakistan.
Pakistan has been in turmoil since Ms Bhutto's assassination on December 27 and her Pakistan People's Party has challenged the Government's reports on her death.
No autopsy was ever conducted.
While her party insists she was struck by a gunman's bullet before a suicide bomber blew himself up, the Government has said she was killed when she banged her head on her car's sunroof.
Mr Musharraf has since said that it is possible she was killed by a bullet.
In the latest interview he said Ms Bhutto's body should be exhumed to determine the cause of death once and for all.
"Yes, exhume it - 100 per cent - I would like it to be exhumed," he told Newsweek from Rawalpindi.
But he ruled out ordering a post-mortem without the agreement of Ms Bhutto's family.
Asked why he should not use his executive power to order one, he said: "Everything is not black and white here. It would have very big political ramifications."
"
If I just ordered the body exhumed, that would be careless, unless [Bhutto's] people agreed. But they will not."
He said Ms Bhutto's supporters have not agreed to a post-mortem "because they know it's a fact there is nothing wrong".
(yet he admitted there might have been a bullet involved??)
"Everybody is trying to gain political advantage - the entire opposition is trying to take political advantage."
Ms Bhutto's family has said it will only agree if Mr Musharraf allows a UN-led inquiry into the murder, which he has ruled out.
"There cannot be a UN investigation," Mr Musharraf told Newsweek.
"There are not two or three countries involved. Why should there be a UN investigation? This is ridiculous."
Mr Musharraf was also asked in the interview about reports that the US is thinking about launching CIA operations in Pakistan with or without Pakistan's approval.
"We are totally in cooperation on the intelligence side," he said.
"But we are totally against [a military operation]. We are a sovereign country. We will ask for assistance from outsiders. They won't impose their will on us."