'Mush not protecting top Opposition leaders'

LAHORE: Accusing President Pervez Musharraf of not doing enough to protect top Opposition leaders who faced terrorist threats, former premier Nawaz Sharif on Monday said the death of Benazir Bhutto is a setback to Pakistan's quest for democracy.
   
"Pakistan today is a military state in which a former Prime Minister can be gunned down in broad day light. These are without a doubt gloomiest days in country's history and such are the wages of dictatorship," Sharif told here.
    
He pointed out that top political leader, including former premiers like him and Bhutto, were not being provided adequate security despite threats to their lives. "On the other hand, Mr Musharraf moves around with 10 armoured cars," he remarked.
    
Adequate security personnel were also not deployed to guard opposition leaders though former federal ministers had both security guards and bulletproof vehicles, Sharif said.
   
"Mohtarma Bhutto paid for the bulletproof car that she was using. I have also paid for my armoured car," Sharif said.
    
He said Bhutto had returned to the country in an effort to restore democracy in Pakistan.
    
"She served as country's Prime Minister twice and had returned to the country in an effort to restore order and return Pakistan to the path of democracy," Sharif said.
    
Criticising the government for lawlessness, Sharif said Bhutto's death has shaken the country.
   
"There is no law and certainly no order in my country. What happened this past week has shaken every Pakistani. Benazir Bhutto was not an ordinary person. She was a national leader with quite an international profile," Sharif said.

Sharif, however, refused to blame anybody directly for Bhutto's murder.
   
"It is too early to blame anybody for her horrible death. But one thing is beyond any doubt whatsoever the country is paying a heavy price for the bone-headed decisions of one man -- Pervez Musharraf".
   
The forces who kill Benazir Bhutto are the forces of darkness, authoritarianism and dictatorship.
   
Sharif, who was deposed by Musharraf in a bloodless coup in 1999, said his PML-N party will participate in the upcoming general elections to usher in democracy and to end dictatorship.
    
He reversed his earlier decision to boycott the polls as a mark of solidarity with Bhutto's party following her assassination in a suicide attack in Rawalpindi last week.