Musharraf exploited situation to assassinate my mother: Bilawal

Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari held former military dictator Pervez Musharraf personally responsible for the murder of his mother Benazir Bhutto, in an interview to BBC.

"Musharraf exploited this entire situation to assassinate my mother," he said. "He purposely sabotaged her security so that she would be assassinated and taken off the scene."

Bilawal said that he doesn’t hold the man who fired the bullet at his late mother responsible for her murder on the evening of December 27 at Liaquatbagh ground in Rawalpindi. The PPP chairman said that Musharraf directly threatened late Benazir and told that her security was based on the state of relationship with him.

He added that on the day of her assassination, the security cordon was taken off from her by the former military ruler.

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When asked by the interviewer that a segment considers his father, former president Asif Ali Zardari, responsible for Benazir’s murder, he reportedly said that this assumption is like calling an innocent an oppressor.

Bilawal said that he personally holds Musharraf responsible for the murder and as he doesn’t have any detail of him giving direction on a call or holding a meeting to convey any secret message, he will not unnecessarily blame any state institution.

Responding on a question, the PPP leader said that the ATC court hearing Benazir’s murder case ignored the United Nations’ investigation report, ignored the government’s investigation, ignored phone call recordings and did not take into account DNA evidence.

Bilawal said he thought that to save Musharraf, punishments will be given to the suspects who have confessed to their involvement, but even this did not happen.

He said that the court gave clean chit to the terrorists and directed punishments to the police officials involved in washing the crime scene but also immediately approved the bail, the security officials are back in their offices.