By IANS
Islamabad : Baitullah Mehsud, the Al Qaeda-linked Pakistani militant who has been named as a key suspect in the killing of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, has denied any involvement in the assassination, his spokespersons said Saturday.
“I strongly deny it. Tribal people have their own customs. We don’t strike women,” BBC quoted Mehsud’s spokesperson Maulvi Umer as saying from unknown location. Umer is the spokesperson of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Pakistan chapter of the Taliban which was formed recently.
“This is absolutely wrong to say that Taliban or any member of the Taliban were involved in murder of Benazir Bhutto,” Umer said.
The government had blamed Mehsud for Bhutto’s assassination at an election rally in Rawalpindi on Thursday.
Omar accused the Pakistan government led by President Pervez Musharraf of killing Bhutto.
“This was a well-planned conspiracy carried out by the intelligence agencies, army and government for their own political motives,” he said.
Mehsud is one of Pakistan’s most wanted militant leaders and is based in the South Waziristan tribal region on the Afghan border, known as a major sanctuary for Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Interior ministry spokesman Brigadier Javed Cheema had on Friday said that authorities had intercepted a conversation between Mehsud and an unknown cleric exchanging greetings on the assassination.
An Urdu translation of the conversation, in the Pashto language, was also distributed to the reporters.
“It was a tremendous effort. They were really brave boys who killed her,” Mehsud said, according to the transcript.
Bhutto returned from more than eight years of self-imposed exile on Oct 18, when she was targeted in a suicide attack during her homecoming rally. Though she escaped, more than 140 people were killed, including many of her Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) workers.
The government had warned that groups linked to Al Qaeda and the Taliban, including Mehsud’s branch, were plotting suicide attacks against her.
Mehsud had denied any involvement in the attack on her homecoming parade.
Mehsud’s fighters had captured more than 200 Pakistani soldiers in South Waziristan in August. The soldiers were released two months later in exchange for 25 detained tribesmen.