ISLAMABAD, April 16 Close associates of former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf have said that he cannot be held responsible for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto because no country can provide security against a suicide attack.

Commenting on observations made in the UN Commission's report, Mr Musharraf's spokesman Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif and Maj-Gen (retd) Rashid Qureshi, who was the general's spokesman during his days in the Presidency, observed that pointing fingers at a former head of state on the basis of hearsay would benefit only the assassins and spark an unnecessary political debate.

Talking to Dawn, they said there was nothing new in the report and regretted that a huge sum of Rs500 million had been wasted on the UN probe.

Barrister Saif said the UN team had no experience of criminal investigation nor had the mandate to do so.

This correspondent tried to contact Gen Musharraf to get his comments on the report, but was told that he was on way to the US from Singapore.

Rejecting the allegation of inadequate security arrangements, Barrister Saif said Ms Bhutto was fully aware of the threat to her life.

He said that the best possible security had been provided to her but there was no mechanism anywhere in the world to guard against suicide attacks.

He said it was not the president's job to decide deployment of security personnel, adding that it was the primarily responsibility of the provincial government and the local administration.

He pointed out that the federal government was under the control of Muhammedmian Soomro at that time.

He said that it was an established fact that Baitullah Mehsud was behind the killing of Ms Bhutto and pointed out that the husband of Ms Bhutto had himself said he knew the assassins.

Gen (retd) Qureshi said the UN report had repeated the findings of earlier investigations, including the one by the Scotland Yard.

He said the commission had just voiced its opinion about security arrangements.

He said that Gen Musharraf himself had been targeted by suicide attackers and could have been harmed had he come out of his vehicle.

He said that Ms Bhutto became a direct target because she had come out of the sun-roof to waive at the crowd at Liaquat Bagh. Otherwise, she could have survived like others who were inside the bullet-proof car.