Musharraf should return to face charges, says Bilawal

Pakistan Peoples Party Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has questioned why former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf does not return to Pakistan and face the charges levelled against him.

While speaking to the BBC, Bilawal said Musharraf threatened his mother Benazir Bhutto. He added they even presented witnesses regarding the case in the court, but to no avail.

Bilawal asked why Musharraf was absconding from the courts if he was not linked with his mother's assassination. 

"It's not only my mother's case in which he has been accused," Bilawal said. "He is also accused of bombing and killing the former chief minister of Balochistan and is also charged for treason, but he is not appearing [in court] for any of these cases." 

Bilawal said the DNA records they presented in Benazir’s murder case were ignored and it took 10 years for the anti-terrorism court to announce the verdict that had to be given within two weeks.

When asked why Bilawal's father, Asif Ali Zardari, did not do anything about the case even though he was elected the president of Pakistan soon after Benazir's assassination, the PPP chairperson said Zardari did take measures to an extent that many reports called it a strong case. 

During the interview, Bilawal also spoke about terrorism and extremism, saying a consolidated plan was required to deal with not just the former but the latter too. He added military action was required against the anti-social elements challenging the state and taking up arms against it.

The PPP chairperson believed that reforms in education, police and the judiciary and changes in curriculum could help the state deal with extremism.

Moreover, Bilawal was also asked about PPP being run as the personal fiefdom of the Bhutto family. To this, the party chairperson said all political parties in Pakistan to rely on dynastic politics to some extent, but PPP did not choose the path of dynastic politics.

"If my grandfather and mother were not assassinated, my grandfather would have been doing politics, my mother would have been in the foreign office and I would have been a student," he said.  

He added that as after as his election as the party chairperson was concerned, the decision was taken by PPP's Central Executive Committee take is mainly responsible for the policies of his party.