Pakistan Views

President Pervez Musharraf conceded that a gunman may have shot martyred Benazir Bhutto but said the opposition leader exposed herself to danger and bore responsibility for her martyrdom, CBS News said on Saturday.

Musharraf was also quoted as telling the CBS “60 Minutes” program to be broadcast on Sunday that his government did everything it could to provide security for martyred Benazir Bhutto, who was killed last week in a gun and suicide-bomb attack after a political rally.

“For standing up outside the car, I think it was she to blame alone nobody else. Responsibility is hers,” Musharraf said in the interview taped on Saturday morning.

Pakistan’s government has said Benazir Bhutto martyred when she struck her head on a handle on her vehicle’s sunroof — a contention widely derided in Pakistan where many people suspect Musharraf’s government of complicity. The government has also blamed al Qaeda for the attack.

Musharraf was asked by CBS, which provided excerpts of the interview, whether a gunshot could have caused martyred Benazir Bhutto’s head injury. He replied, “Yes, yes.”

The questioner asked, “So she may have been shot?” and Musharraf said, “Yes, absolutely, yes. Possibility.”

In an opinion article in the Washington Post, Asif Ali Zardari urged that a caretaker government be named to oversee national elections that were postponed until next month and he outlined other standards for assessing their legitimacy.

“Democracy in Pakistan can be saved, and extremism and fanaticism contained, only if the elections, when they are held, are free, fair and credible,” he wrote.

CBS asked Musharraf whether he believed the government did everything possible for her security. “Absolutely,” he said. “She was given more security than any other person.”