ISLAMABAD, April 27 A federal minister said on Tuesday that former president Pervez Musharraf did not enjoy immunity and he would be brought back to face trial if he was charged in a criminal case.

During an unusual interaction with senior journalists and TV anchors at the PTV headquarters, Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said that Gen (retd) Musharraf would, however, continue to get security even if he was charged in a criminal case.

He said the UN report on Benazir Bhutto's assassination which had pointed out PPP's own security lapse would be investigated at an appropriate stage. But, he said, it was unlikely that anyone from the PPP would be held responsible for this because security was the sole responsibility of the Musharraf government. Mr Kaira defended the guard of honour given to Gen Musharraf and said the PPP had come to power as result of an understanding with him.

He said that Gen Musharraf stood out as the main person responsible because being the chief executive he was required to provide fool-proof security to Benazir Bhutto, but he failed to do.

When asked why had the PPP government failed to carry out a criminal investigation in two years since the assassination of Ms Bhutto, Mr Kaira said that blaming someone for the murder would have created an uproar similar to the one which followed the publication of report that the name of former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Parvaiz Elahi had been put on the ECL.