Hans Rustad Ekstremistllederen som pakistanske myndigheter har utpekt som den skyldige i drapet på Benazir Bhutto, sier at anklagen er falsk. Han hadde ikke noe med attentatet å gjøre. Mistanken om at Bhutto ble drept av krefter innenfor maktapparatet vokser.
Innenriksdepartementet offentliggjorde fredag utdrag av en samtale mellom Baitullah Mehsud og en annen, der Mehsud gratulerer med vel utført jobb. Men myndighetene offentliggjorde ikke lydopptaket, bare en utskrift.
But a spokesman for Mehsud, Maulana Mohammed Umer, denied the militant was involved in the attack and dismissed the allegations as «government propaganda.»
«We strongly deny it. Baitullah Mehsud is not involved in the killing of Benazir Bhutto,» he said in a telephone call he made to The Associated Press from the tribal region of South Waziristan.
«The fact is that we are only against America, and we don’t consider political leaders of Pakistan our enemy,» he said, adding that he was speaking on instructions from Mehsud.
Mehsud heads Tehrik-i-Taliban, a newly formed coalition of Islamic militants committed to waging holy war against the government, which is a key U.S. ally in its war on terror.
Bhutto’s Pakistan Peoples Party accused the government of trying to frame Mehsud, saying the militant — through emissaries — had previously told Bhutto he was not involved in the Karachi bombing.
«The story that al-Qaida or Baitullah Mehsud did it appears to us to be a planted story, an incorrect story, because they want to divert the attention,» said Farhatullah Babar, a spokesman for Bhutto’s party.
After the Karachi attack, Bhutto accused elements in the ruling pro-Musharraf party of plotting to kill her. The government denied the claims. Babar said Bhutto’s allegations were never investigated.
To separate instanser gransker nå attentatet: en høyesterettsdommer og en gruppe politifolk. Men Bhutto ble gravlagt i alle hast, uten obduksjon, og åstedet spylt etter en time.
