Former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf was quizzed last week by a UN panel probing the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto.
Musharraf was interviewed by the UN commission of inquiry in New York shortly after the panel wrote to the Pakistan government saying it wanted to meet him. The interview lasted for two hours, Geo News channel quoted its sources as saying.
The channel quoted its sources and a communication to the government from Pakistan’s permanent representative at the UN as saying that Musharraf had sought "strict confidentiality" about the meeting with the UN commission. The panel agreed not to announce the meeting, the document said.
Geo also quoted its sources as saying that Musharraf had told the commission that a letter sent to Bhutto in 2007 had asked her not to return to Pakistan as there was a threat to her life. At that time, Bhutto was living in self-exile outside Pakistan.
The sources quoted Musharraf as telling the UN panel that foolproof security was provided to Bhutto and there was no security failure that led to her killing.
Musharraf also said Bhutto’s security team did not follow guidelines given by the government for protecting her.The UN commission had said in its letter to the Pakistan government in October that if Musharraf failed to appear before it, this would be mentioned in the report to be submitted to the UN Secretary General.
Bhutto was assassinated by a suicide bomber after addressing an election rally in Rawalpindi in December 2007. Shortly after she was killed, Musharraf had blamed slain Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Baitullah Mehsud for masterminding the assassination.
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