Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto on Saturday praised the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for severing its ties with Afghanistan's Taliban regime and called on her country to follow suit.
Bhutto, interviewed on Cable News Network's (CNN) Larry King Live, described the Taliban -- who are thought to be harbouring the main suspect in last week's deadly terror attack in the United States, Osama bin Laden -- as "a major problem."
"The UAE did the right thing in cutting off the relationship. I'd like to see my own government do the same. In fact, back in 1998 we called upon the government to sever the ties with the Taliban. The Taliban are a major problem," she said in the satellite interview from the UAE, where she lives in exile.
Bhutto, who was ousted in 1996, hinted that Pakistan should switch its allegiances to Afghanistan's opposition forces, saying that the Taliban would not cooperate in the war against terrorism.
"They are determined to go it alone, and I think that we really have to look at the others -- other players within Afghanistan," she said, adding that a change was "possible" within the leadership of the Taliban, headed by Mullah Mohammad Omar.
"Mullah Omar is not going to cooperate. He is related to bin Laden," she said.
Bhutto also backed the global war against terrorism unleashhed by the United States after terrorists used hijacked jetliners to attack New York's World Trade Centre and Washington's Pentagon on September 11, leaving nearly 7,000 feared dead.
But she warned against the action being turned into fight against Islam, something US President George W. Bush and his adminstration have said they want to avoid at all costs.
"Muslims are very concerned at some of the coverage that is being used which sometimes fails to make this distinction. The militants would like to show this as a battle against Islam. And I would like to caution that's something we need to avoid," she said.
The former leader, twice elected and twice dismissed from office, Bhutto has lived in self-imposed exile since shortly before her 1999 conviction for corruption, said she wanted to go home to lead her party and help bring stability to Pakistan.
"I'd like to go back, and I hope that given this new situation, given the fact that my party did very well in the recent local elections, Islamabad will reach out to myself and to other political dissidents to create the kind of unity that is needed for a stable Pakistan to back the battle against international terrorism," she said
"This is not a battle just for America. This is a very real battle for the people of Pakistan." -- WASHINGTON (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
