By Xinhua
Washington : US House of Representative Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called for an international investigation into the assassination of Pakistan’s former prime minister Benazir Bhutto before providing any more aid to the country.
Pelosi, a Democrat, Saturday said in a statement the US government should make its assistance to Pakistan conditional to the country’s probe of Bhutto’s assassination and cooperation in the anti-terrorism war with the US.
“The refusal by the (Pakistan President Pervez) Musharraf government to accept international assistance in the investigation of the assassination of former prime minister Bhutto, and recent reports that previous US aid to Pakistan has been misspent, raise troubling questions about whether those conditions are being met,” she said.
“These questions must be addressed by the (US President George W.) Bush administration before any additional US aid is sent to the Musharraf government,” she added.
The house speaker also urged the Bush administration to “press the Pakistani government to ensure that the coming election is free and fair,” which was originally set for Jan 8.
Bhutto, 54, was assassinated when she was leaving an election rally in Rawalpindi Thursday.