By Parveen Chopra, IANS
New York : Slain Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto regretted missing an opportunity when in power in the country to make peace with India.
“I was with my father (Zulfikar Ali Bhutto) at Shimla when he signed the Shimla agreement with India to try and bring the two countries to peace despite the differences on Kashmir. And it was always my dream to be remembered as a peacemaker. So I do look back and regret the opportunity I had to make peace,” she said when asked what she regretted about her years in power.
Bhutto was speaking at the Council of Foreign Relations in New York to members of the think tank and media on Aug 14 this year, a day marking 60 years of Pakistan’s independence. At the time talk had started of a US brokered power-sharing formula between her and President Pervez Musharraf.
Bhutto enjoyed two spells as Pakistan’s prime minister, from 1988 to 1990 and from 1993 to 96.
Experts on India-Pakistan relations, though, maintained that she made the right noises vis-à-vis India only when out of power.