NEW YORK, Nov 4: Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto said on Sunday that the United States should use “American aid as a leverage” and tell Gen Musharraf that all aid would be ‘jeopardised’ if his regime failed to hold elections to bring to power a government which can turn the tide against extremism.

In an exclusive interview with ABC news, Ms Bhutto said that the imposition of the emergency rule had “nothing to do with fighting terrorism. It had everything to do to stop the court verdict which was coming against him for holding two offices.”

Ms Bhutto decried Gen Musharraf’s invocation of Lincoln’s actions, saying “Lincoln amputated the limbs which were sick and not the healthy body which is the Constitution.”

Terming Gen Musharraf’s action as political grab which cost the “country its Constitution” Ms Bhutto asked the Bush administration to use its clout to reverse the emergency and ask Gen Musharraf to hold elections.

The PPP leader expressed surprise that she was not arrested when she arrived in Pakistan on Saturday, saying “may be its got to do with the fact that I have an international image and maybe Gen Musharraf wants to keep the door to negotiations open.”