By Arun Kumar, IANS
Washington : In the weeks before Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, the US government directly provided her with intelligence on dangers she faced from militants in Pakistan, according to a leading US daily.
The Bush administration did so as the US-backed President Pervez Musharraf resisted pressure to expand the scope of her security detail, the Los Angeles Times said citing US lawmakers and other officials and Bhutto supporters.
The intelligence provided to Bhutto was furnished by the US Embassy in Islamabad, it said citing a US official who spoke on condition of anonymity. Along with information about possible threats to her, the Americans provided security advice on ways her risks could be reduced.
The US official told the Times the Americans were aware that Bhutto faced serious dangers, especially in light of an earlier attempt on her life, a bombing during her homecoming rally in Karachi Oct 19, in which 139 people were killed.
Americans also “reiterated” that the Musharraf government needed to make vigorous attempts to avert dangers to her, the official said.
It was not clear whether US officials began providing the information before or after the Oct 19 attack. But the information was supplied in the context of US knowledge about a network of militant organisations considered hostile to Bhutto, including some that had vowed to attempt to kill her should she return to Pakistan, the Times said.
A member of those groups, Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, was named Friday by Pakistani officials as being responsible for Bhutto’s death. US intelligence officials said they could not confirm the finding.
Meanwhile, US lawmakers and Bhutto’s friends charged that Musharraf had rebuffed US entreaties for beefed-up security. And US officials were reluctant to press Musharraf too hard, a former advisor to Bhutto told the Times.
US recognised the gravity of the threat Bhutto faced, yet officials stopped short of providing direct security services, such as the private contractors they have arranged for Afghan President Hamid Karzai and for top leaders in Iraq, the Times said.
Husain Haqqani, the former advisor to Bhutto, said he had entreated US officials to press Musharraf to see that Bhutto had better security. But he said US officials resisted deeper involvement, saying they did not want to start “micromanaging the security arrangements of another country”.
Haqqani, who is director of the Centre for International Relations at Boston University, said he considered the US argument legitimate. But he said that American officials have gone so far in supporting Musharraf that they should have been willing to ensure that the Pakistani president “was willing to see that Bhutto had sufficient security”.
Haqqani said Bhutto wanted to use private international security contractors for her protection. But Musharraf was unwilling to provide the necessary approvals for them to operate in Pakistan, even though Bhutto was willing to pay for them herself, he said.
Senator Joseph R. Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a presidential candidate, released a letter that he and two Senate colleagues wrote to Musharraf at Bhutto’s request to urge him to step up the protections.
The letter, sent soon after the October attempt on Bhutto’s life, urges that she be given “the full level of security support afforded to any former prime minister”, including bomb-proof vehicles and jamming equipment.
John F. Kerry, Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on South Asia, said this week that after the October attack, he talked to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice about ways the administration could work with Musharraf to ensure Bhutto’s safety.
The State Department had indicated it was “determined to help”, the Times said citing David Wade, an aide to Kerry.