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Bhutto: Pakistan key to the future of the Muslim world

Bhutto says she will return next year to run for PM despite a warrant for her arrest

Former prime minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto spoke to CNN correspondent Maria Ressa about the current situation in Afghanistan on November 25, 2001, in New Delhi, India.

Bhutto, who lives in self-imposed exile, was this year sentenced to three years in jail for failing to appear in court to face corruption charges. Her party denies ever receiving any court notice.

Pakistani court officials said she will be arrested immediately if she returns home.

Q: Mrs. Bhutto, how have events in Afghanistan, particularly the retreat of the Taliban, affected the hard-line elements in the Islamic world?

A: The retreat of the Taliban has been a serious setback to the hard-liners within the Muslim world.

Q: How do you think that would affect something like say the Middle East or Kashmir?

A: I was deeply concerned by the rise of terrorists using the name of Islam because I feared that they were trying to hijack regional movements and damage them.

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I thought that the Taliban had been hijacked since my ouster since 1996 and since the hijacking of their movement, we saw then people from different countries landed up there, and Afghanistan became less a place for Afghans and more a place for worldwide movement of disparate groups.

Q: Osama bin Laden was somehow able to tap into something within the Muslim world, some dissatisfaction?

A: He was able to tap different youths in different regions on different issues by pegging it all as a war between Islam and the West, but in fact, he was damaging the regional conflicts for his own agenda which was to topple important Muslim countries and seize power for himself.

In my view, this is a time of introspection for us. How do we, the Muslims, move forward? What lessons do we give our youths?

Q: Osama bin Laden and the Taliban. What exactly is the relationship between the two?

A: I think that Osama bin Laden ran the Taliban. In my assessment, al Qaeda controlled the Taliban. And as far as al Qaeda itself is concerned, they had a lot of ties with a lot of different countries.

What makes me nervous is the ties that they had with elements in my country who were involved in the fight against the Afghan jihad.

So, although al Qaeda is defeated in Afghanistan today, those linkages and networks are still very real. They will still try to regroup and reassert themselves. In that context, I say that Pakistan is key to what is going to occur in the larger Muslim world.

Q: How much support in your estimation does Osama bin Laden have within the military establishment in Pakistan?

A: There is support for him. I don't know why because I find it very difficult to see how anyone can support someone who leads to so much destruction.

Q: What was the significance of General Pervez Musharraf (Pakistan's leader) revamping the military about a month and a half ago?

A: General Musharraf has sidelined some generals. Where I think the military regime has gone wrong is the inability to work out an understanding with the democratic forces. After all, politics occurs in a particular parameter not in a vacuum.

Now the relentless pursuit of the main democratic and popular forces like my party has been that armed groups like Lashkar-e-Toiba and others who have come on the U.S. list of terrorists. These groups are taking the political space in Pakistan.

I think there has to be a rollback of that. And that rollback where the moderate political forces reassert themselves and organizations like Lashkar-e-Toiba with ties to al Qaeda and Taliban are marginalized can only take place when the moderate political parties are allowed to play a role.

Q: Well, would you say then that India has a point? It's repeatedly stated that Lashkar-e-Toiba, is armed and supported by Pakistan and it continues to perform terrorist acts in Kashmir. Do you agree with any of these statements from the Indian side?

A: It's very difficult for me here on Indian soil to be asked to choose between my country because obviously my patriotism comes to the fore but I will say this: that the inclusion of armed groups like Lashkar-e-Toiba has undermined all parties ... conference and damaged the Kashmiri struggle and I think it is very important for us to learn the lesson of Afghanistan and not allow an al Qaeda to hijack a real movement.

Q: Let me ask you about General Musharraf. You've been critical of him in the past, questioning his legitimacy. How has he faired in the last few months?

A: General Musharraf did the right thing in joining the international coalition but he was unable to deliver and change within Afghanistan and he was unable to substantively deliver in opening political space for moderate political parties. We're still in an ongoing negotiation with him and we're troubled when he says he is going to remain president without an election.

Democracy needs elections. He needs to go to a political party and say, I need your votes. What can I do to get your votes? Then maybe we can have Pakistanis working together towards a common aim of a moderate and democratic Pakistan where there are fundamental rights and free trade.

That's still to happen. There's still time before the next general elections and . . . I hope that General Musharraf can move in that direction.

Q: If elections are indeed held about a year from now in October, will you return to Pakistan and run for Prime Minister?

A: I very much want to contest for Prime Minister because I believe my leadership can make a difference. I think it can make a difference in my own country but also help the suffering people of Afghanistan. And also build a better South Asia than the one we had known in the past.

I'm here in India now because I want to tell India that my name was associated with the past with democracy. I hope it can be associated with peace. I know the Kashmiri people have suffered enormously. I know Indian troops have lost their lives and I think it's for us the leaders to try to diffuse the tension where two nuclear powers are facing each other, so I want to go back.

I want to contest those elections if indeed they are fair. That's why we told Musharraf, let's end sham elections. Let's discuss the modalities of what constitute fair elections and put Pakistan on the path of stability. Pakistan's stability is critical now to too many other players.