Bhutto links Pakistan terrorism to Musharraf regime

CANADA: Pakistan’s exiled former leader Benazir Bhutto warned that the threat of terrorism in northwestern Pakistan’s lawless tribal zones will not go away while a military government is in power.

“The root cause of the problem lies in the inability of the government of Pakistan to assert governmental authority and state authority in the tribal areas,” Bhutto told Canada’s CBC public television channel.

“As long as we have a cabinet ... that needs the threat of terrorism to sustain a military dictatorship in Pakistan we’re never going to get rid of terrorism,” she said of the leadership of President Pervez Musharraf.

“The military is the problem,” she said Saturday. “True democracy will deal with the social and economic needs of the people of Pakistan.”

She also called on the international community to support a transfer to a regular democratic government in Islamabad.

Meanwhile Pakistan army helicopters pounded two militant hideouts near the Afghan border on Sunday, killing three pro-Taliban fighters, a military spokesman said.

Major General Waheed Arshad told Reuters the pre-dawn attack continued for several hours near Mir Ali town in the North Waziristan tribal region.

Montreal, Miranshah, Sunday, AFP, Reuters