ISLAMABAD, April 3: An annual $900 million non-budgetary support is sustaining President Gen Pervez Musharraf in power, according to Pakistan People’s Party chairperson Benazir Bhutto.

“A small elite benefits from the renter mentality of the military dictatorship that rents out Pakistan’s real estate in return for power and hundreds of millions of non-budgetary support,” she said.

Ms Bhutto made the assertions in a statement on the 25th death anniversary of her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

She said her father opposed “the renter mentality that lies at the heart of military dictatorships” and paid with his life.

People of Pakistan have seen time and again that “the price of renter politics is alienation, divisiveness and the threat of implosion that could strike at the territorial integrity of the country”.

She said “internal contradictions” once again are threatening the country and called for reverting to her father’s “legacy” to save Pakistan from ending up a failed state.

“A country that launched the world of modernity in the region in the 1970s, introducing radios and passports for every citizen, and which launched the telecommunication revolution as well as the policies of information technology, deregulation, decentralization and privatization in Pakistan in 1988, with its success being copied in South and West Asia, has the capacity to once again transform its society from crisis to capability,” said the PPP leader.

Ms Bhutto, who lives in Dubai in self-exile, charged that the present rulers tried, but failed, to make people “abandon the mainstream parties” after the parties spurned their offers to cut deals with the “political orphans” under their wings.

She recalled that former US Secretary of State Gen Alexander Haig recently described Gen Musharraf as “an endangered species”, asserting that “greatness lies in enduring structures, not in individuals who will have their time on the stage and then move on”.

On the nuclear issue, Ms Bhutto observed that “although nuclear scientist (Abdul) Qadeer Khan chose to fall on his sword to protect others, damage to national interest was done”.

Award for benazir: Benazir Bhutto was awarded the “International Woman of the Year” award by prominent European Publishing House, Motivate Publishing, as part of “Emirates Woman Awards 2006” at a ceremony in Dubai, says a party handout.

Ms Bhutto was also the guest of honour at the ceremony attended by distinguished personalities from Dubai and the Middle East.

“We are fortunate and honoured that Ms Bhutto graced the occasion and are absolutely thrilled to give her the International Woman of the Year Award as she is an inspiration to women around the world,” said Gina Johnson, the Group Editor-in- Chief of Motivate Publishing.