PARIS: Benazir Bhutto on Friday accused supporters of Pakistan's late military ruler Mohammed Zia ul-Haq of being behind the bomb blasts that killed more than 130 people after her arrival in Karachi.
In an interview published in French on the Internet site of Paris-Match magazine, Bhutto said she had no doubt that members of the former Zia regime were responsible for the attack late Thursday on her homecoming parade.
Zia overthrew Bhutto's father, Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, in 1977 and had him hanged two years later. He died in a plane crash in 1988. Bhutto, who conducted the interview in English, said there were those who had served with Zia who remained extremely powerful and saw her return to Pakistan and her pledge to restore democracy as a threat to their influence.
While acknowledging that Islamist extremists were likely responsible for the attack itself, she stressed that such groups were unable to operate without logistical support from people in positions of power.
She also blamed the government of Pakistan's current military ruler, President Pervez Musharraf, for failing to prevent Thursday's blasts. She feared that from now on whenever she planned to stage a mass rally, the government would say it was too risky because there could be suicide bombers.
