ISLAMABAD, Nov 17: Former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf has indirectly blamed his hand-picked prime ministers for the circumstances that may have led to the deaths of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Bugti.
In an interview with the NDTV, he also said that he was ready to face trial, and even go to jail, if found guilty in any case.
According to a transcript of the interview available on the website of NDTV, the former president said he could return to Pakistan before his earlier announced schedule of March.
Shaukat Aziz was the prime minister and Mr Musharraf was still holding the office of army chief when Mr Bugti was killed in a military operation in September 2006. Mohammadmian Soomro was the interim prime minister at the time of Benazir Bhutto's assassination in Rawalpindi on Dec 27, 2007.
When reminded that he could be arrested upon his return to Pakistan because a court had already issued his non-bailable warrants, he said, “I only hope it doesn't happen because I know that as far the legalities of the case are concerned, it doesn't stand on any solid legs at all. These are politicised cases and I have no responsibility in the two major cases.”
Mr Musharraf added: “The president of Pakistan doesn't provide security to anyone. And the government is not run by the president. In a parliamentary system, it is the prime minister who runs the government, takes decisions, not the president.
“However, if there is some kind of action, which is on political basis, which is very unfair, I am prepared to face the worst and face the trial,” he said, adding: “Let the people of Pakistan decide. If, after doing so much for Pakistan, if any part of the judiciary thinks that I need to be punished, well, let me face it.”
When asked whether or not he was trying to pass the buck to his prime ministers, he said: “No, no. I am not doing that. The problem is that people don't understand what is power?”
Then he explained: “Not even once have I chaired a cabinet meeting. How is government run? Through the cabinet. Through the ministers. Through the secretaries. Not once have I done that.”
When asked whether he accepted “a degree of moral responsibility for Benazir's death”, his reply was: “No. Not at all, not at all. Zero.”
The former president claimed that he had personally called Ms Bhutto and told her that there was a threat to her life, but regretted that she didn't listen to him.
Answering a question about Interior Minister Rehman Malik's statement that he would get in touch with Interpol to execute the warrant against Musharraf, the former army chief said the government had been saying this for the last eight or 10 months.
When asked whether he was scared of going to jail, he said: “Bad luck if that happens. But I am not scared. The point is that if I am scared, then I shouldn't have joined politics. When I decided to create the party, I knew the risks involved. Throw me in jail, for what, for doing so much for Pakistan? In seven years that I changed the situation entirely for Pakistan?”
