Daily Times : UK facilitated Benazir’s return to Pakistan: Imran

UK facilitated Benazir’s return to Pakistan: Imran

Daily Times Monitor | October 19, 2007

LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf Chairman Imran Khan has criticised the British government for facilitating former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s return to Pakistan.

In an interview with Geo TV’s Kamran Khan, Imran Khan said: “I would have been very happy if Benazir had done two things before returning. First of all she should not have had a deal with Musharraf and under no circumstances should she have accepted Musharraf. She should have also said that she would face all cases against her in front of an independent tribunal.

“Secondly she should not have returned to Pakistan with Washington’s backing in any case. After spending all that time in America, then Richard Boucher’s involvement and Britain’s former Ambassador Mark Lyall’s role in all of this. Had this not happened I would have been happy to say that the leader of a big party, the Pakistan People’s Party has returned. But because of these two reasons, we, the opposition, believe that she has weakened the opposition movement, meaning that she has weakened the democratic movement by giving a military dictator the opportunity to dig in his claws once again as he was losing power because of the lawyers’ movement,” he said.

“And we (cannot) understand the role of America in Pakistan. What business do they have in creating a moderate alliance in Pakistan? And now this role of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement in all of this. The MQM did not allow me into Karachi when I wanted and they said there would be traffic jams. I see the MQM now that all of this is happening with mutual collaboration. Everyone knows this, and it has also been reported in a British newspaper, The Independent, that the British government has told Altaf Hussain and MQM to facilitate Benazir, which you are witnessing today,” he added.