Mehsud Had Told Benazir: 'I Am Not Your Enemy'
By: MUHAMMAD AHMAD NOORANI
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, 30 December 2007 (The News) - "Identify your enemy, I am not your enemy, I have nothing to do with you or against you or with the assassination attempt on you on October 19," Baitullah Mehsud, the local Waziristan tribal leader conveyed this message twice to Benazir Bhutto, the PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar claimed on Saturday.
"The top PPP leadership trusted the message," Babar disclosed, adding that it was conveyed by Mehsud through two different reliable emissaries after the October 19 assassination attempt on her life in Karsaz, Karachi.
Mehsud had conveyed to Benazir Bhutto that his activities were limited to Waziristan and were of a defensive nature. "I have neither the resources to fight outside Waziristan nor I have any plans to attack Benazir Bhutto in future," Mehsud had conveyed to the top PPP
leadership.
Babar claimed that the voice recording of the alleged conversation between Baitullah Mehsud and another religious leader presented before the media on Friday by the [Pakistan] Interior Ministry was ridiculous and a deliberate attempt to divert the attention of the nation from
the real culprits.
He added: "We have no doubt that Baitullah Mehsud is not involved in Thursday's [27 December 2007] tragic incident. Rather, we have serious doubts against those mentioned in the letter written by Benazir to Pervez Musharraf before and after the October 19 Karsaz tragedy."
"If the government had seriously gone through the contents of the letter and had fulfilled our demand to hire the services of some foreign investigative agencies to probe into the Karachi attack, Thursday's tragic incident might have been avoided," Babar added.
"Instead of diverting the attention of the people of Pakistan towards Baitullah Mehsud, should the government hire the services of an international professional investigative agency, matters can proceed in a better direction," Babar said.
"Now the people of Pakistan can understand when someone is trying to fool them," Babar said, adding: "If an inquiry in the murder case of Rafiq Hariri can be held by international experts, it can also be held in this case to expose the conspirators."
PPP Demands Probe Based on Benazir's Letter
The chief of Benazir Bhutto's security, Rehman Malik, told The News on Friday he was conveyed through a senior journalist who had directly spoken to Baitullah Mehsud that Mehsud had no enmity with Benazir and had no plans to attack or kill her.
He said that the PPP had demanded of the government to give credible evidences, if it had any, regarding the involvement of Baitullah Mehsud in the tragic incident.
He said as the security adviser to Benazir Bhutto, he still had not received any medical or enquiry report of the incident or the recording of the conversation on phone between Mehsud and his companion.
He said that he would be in a proper position to comment on the government findings after he would officially receive the documents.
Earlier, on the directions of the PPP Chairperson, Senator Safdar Abbasi had asked Senator Saleh Shah to contact Baitullah Mehsud and ask him why he wanted to kill Benazir Bhutto. When Saleh Shah met Mehsud at an unidentified location in the tribal areas, Mehsud assured Saleh Shah that some enemy of Benazir was deliberately attempting to spread misinformation that he wanted to kill her.
"I have no plans to do so and have no enmity with Benazir Bhutto," Mehsud had assured the Senator.
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