KARACHI, Nov 17: PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto said on Saturday that if democracy was not restored, the country would face an even greater threat from extremists.

Speaking to DawnNews at the Bilawal House after reaching here from Lahore, Ms Bhutto said that the world could not remain a silent spectator in such a situation.

She asked the people to support the PPP which, she said, was capable of steering the country out of the prevailing political crisis and threats posed by extremists.

“Fighting against extremism is not an American agenda. It is an agenda of Pakistani people. Taliban and Al Qaeda do not respect Pakistan. They do not respect Pakistani people. They are removing Pakistani flags. They are killing our soldiers. So, the people of Pakistan should support the PPP so that it could rid the country of extremism.”

Ms Bhutto said that extremists took control of Tora Bora and then tribal areas and now Swat… they can even move to Peshawar, Hazara and Islamabad.

She reiterated her demands for lifting the emergency rule, putting in place a neutral caretaker government, reconstituting the Election Commission and free and fair elections. When asked whether she conveyed her demands to visiting US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, the PPP chairperson replied in the negative.

She said the American envoy wanted to know the opposition’s viewpoint about the current situation, adding that Washington had been supporting some of the issues the PPP had raised from time to time.

Replying to a question, the PPP leader said that extremists posed a great danger to the integrity of the country.

In Karachi, Ms Bhutto is expected to cobble together a broad-based opposition platform against Gen Pervez Musharraf.

According to original plan, Ms Bhutto is likely to preside over a multi-party conference on Nov 19 for evolving a common strategy of all opposition parties for upcoming elections, reinstatement of judges, media freedom and suspension of the Constitution.

But the MPC is likely to be delayed in view of PML-N leader Raja Zafarul Haq’s request that he needed more time for a response on the issue. Ms Bhutto was striving for all opposition parties to debate among other things whether or not they should contest elections in the presence of emergency and suspension of the Constitution.