By Muhammad Najeeb, IANS
Islamabad : Al Qaeda linked Pakistani militant commander Baitullah Mehsud, who was named a key suspect in the murder of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, Saturday denied his role in the assassination.
“This is absolutely wrong to say that the Taliban or any member of the Taliban were involved in murder of Benazir Bhutto,” BBC quoted Mehsud’s spokesperson Maulvi Umer as saying from an unknown location.
“I strongly deny it. Tribal people have their own customs. We don’t strike women,” Umer said.
Mehsud heads the Tehrik-i-Taliban in Pakistan (TTP), a newly launched united movement of Taliban and Al Qaeda militants in Pakistan’s tribal region bordering Afghanistan.
The Pakistan government had blamed Mehsud for attacking Bhutto’s election rally in Rawalpindi Thursday.
Interior ministry spokesman Brig. Javed Iqbal Cheema Friday said that authorities had intercepted a conversation between most wanted terrorist Mehsud and an unknown cleric exchanging greetings on the assassination.
A transcript of the telephone call was also released. An Urdu translation of the conversation, originally in the Pashto language, was also distributed to the media.
“It was a tremendous effort. They were really brave boys who killed her,” Mehsud said, according to the transcript.
BBC quoted Umer saying that it was a political murder and an act of the government or secret agencies and was continuation of murders in the Bhutto family.
He said that earlier three members of Bhutto family – her father and two brothers – were murdered and these three murders were political.
“We believe this murder is continuation of the previous killings in the Bhutto family,” Umer said. He expressed his condolences over the murder saying it was a big tragedy and appealed to the people to remain peaceful.
Leaders of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) have also ridiculed the government claim that her death occurred after she hit the sunroof lever of her vehicle and that Taliban were involved in the murder.
“This is ridiculous and a joke that she died after hitting the sunroof lever,” PPP spokesperson Farhartullah Babar told IANS. He said that the government has accused the militants of the murder just to divert attention.
Bhutto returned from more than eight years of self-imposed exile Oct 18, when she was targeted in a suicide attack during her homecoming rally. Though she escaped, 139 people were killed, including many 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.