WASHINGTON (AFP) — Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, in a US magazine interview released Friday, called for the body of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto to be exhumed as he rejected charges that the government was complicit in her assassination.
In a wide-ranging interview with Newsweek published online, Musharraf also expressed his refusal to let the United States launch CIA operations against Al-Qaeda in Pakistan.
Pakistan has been in turmoil since Bhutto's assassination on December 27 and her Pakistan People's Party has challenged the government's reports on her death. No autopsy was ever conducted.
While her party insists she was struck by a gunman's bullet before a suicide bomber blew himself up, the government says she was killed when her head hit her car's sunroof as she waved to supporters after a campaign rally.
Musharraf said Bhutto's body should be exhumed to determine once and for all whether she was killed by a bullet.
"Yes, exhume it. A hundred percent. I would like it to be exhumed," he told Newsweek from Rawalpindi.
But he ruled out ordering a post-mortem without the agreement of Bhutto's family.
Asked why he should not use his executive power to order one, he said: "Everything is not black and white here. It would have very big political ramifications. If I just ordered the body exhumed, that would be careless, unless (Bhutto's) people agreed. But they will not."
He said Bhutto's supporters have not agreed to a post-mortem "because they know it's a fact there is nothing wrong."
"Everybody is trying to gain political advantage; the entire opposition is trying to take political advantage," he said.
The Pakistani government has offered to exhume her body and conduct an autopsy, but Bhutto's family says it will only agree if Musharraf allows a UN-led inquiry into the murder, which he has ruled out.
"There cannot be a UN investigation," Musharraf told Newsweek. "There are not two or three countries involved. Why should there be a UN investigation? This is ridiculous."
Musharraf was also asked in the interview about reports that the United States is thinking about launching CIA operations in Pakistan with or without Pakistan's approval.
"We are totally in cooperation on the intelligence side," he said. "But we are totally against (a military operation). We are a sovereign country. We will ask for assistance from outsiders. They won't impose their will on us."
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