Telegraph : Benazir Bhutto takes on a powerful enemy

Benazir Bhutto takes on a powerful enemy

By Colin Freeman in Karachi | October 21, 2007

Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto plans to purge her country's intelligence services of hundreds of rogue agents suspected of supporting Islamic terrorism, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt.

In a move that puts her in direct confrontation with the nation's most powerful institutions, Ms Bhutto, who returned home from exile last week, said Pakistan's security agencies had to become "professional" outfits free from political agendas.

Foremost in her sights if she returns to power will be the notorious Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), the secretive "state within the state" that is blamed for orchestrating much of the terrorist violence convulsing Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan.

Many suspect it of providing financial and logistical assistance to al-Qaeda and the Taliban, the prime suspects for the suicide bombing that killed 139 people during her homecoming parade in Karachi on Thursday.

Oxford-educated Ms Bhutto, 54, told The Sunday Telegraph: "We need a security service that is professional in its approach, which rises above ties of religious or political sentiment.
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"I have strong reservations about some of the people still operating within the intelligence services, and we need reforms to get rid of them."

She spoke out as Pakistani investigators revealed new details about the attack, in which a lone suicide bomber blew himself up alongside her armoured bus.

The attacker, a source close to the investigation said, had tried to break through the security cordon by claiming he was a Bhutto aide, bringing her a box of cotton buds that she had requested. Security staff and police turned him away on his first two attempts, but did not suspect he was a terrorist.

On his third try, having penetrated an outer ring of security, he is thought to have thrown a grenade as a diversion before detonating a device made of C4 plastic explosive and ball bearings.

The bomber's severed head, which remained intact, was recognised by police as the man they twice turned away.

Yesterday, as a police photograph of the bloodied head was printed in many Pakistani newspapers, the source also disclosed that they thought the bomber had been picked for the job because of his close physical resemblance to many of Ms Bhutto's security staff.

The stewards around the bus included many makranis, distant descendants of African slaves who came to Pakistan centuries ago. "The makranis are known for being strong PPP supporters, so they were trusted with being in the inner cordon," said the security source. "The guy they picked for the suicide bombing looked just a makrani."

The same tactic had been used in at least three other suicide bombings in Pakistan in the past year, he said, with the attackers picked to blend in with their surroundings. "If it's an attack in the Punjab province, they'll use a Punjabi, and so on," he said. "It's a sinister development – it shows that they have so many volunteers to choose from."

The source also gave the identities of three government officials said to have been named in a letter written by Ms Bhutto to Pakistan's military ruler, Gen Pervez Musharraf, in which she accused them of plotting to attack her. The Sunday Telegraph is not revealing their names for legal reasons, but they include a serving senior commander within Pakistani intelligence.

Ms Bhutto makes no secret of her disdain for the ISI, long the most powerful of Pakistan's myriad security agencies. Formed in 1948 to look after external threats, it expanded out of control in the 1980s, when it was responsible for disbursing millions of dollars of US cash to Islamic mujahedeen fighting the Soviet occupation in neighbouring Afghanistan.

Many of those recruited to its ranks during that time actively sympathised with Islamist movements, and when the Soviets forces left in 1989 they went on to nurture both the Taliban and its ideological ally, al Qaeda.

Among the Islamist operations thought to be sponsored by factions within the ISI today is the Taliban revival in southern Afghanistan, where it is now fighting a bloody campaign against British troops.

For Ms Bhutto, the distrust of the ISI also has a strongly personal element. Its expansion and radicalisation were overseen by another Pakistani military dictator, General Zia ul-Haq, who in 1977 overthrew Ms Bhutto's father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, executing him two years later.

Ms Bhutto suspects the ISI still contains many Haq appointees who nurtured particular grudges against her family's political dynasty. Asked how many agents needed to be removed, Ms Bhutto replied: "There are hundreds of them. We should not have anybody from Zia's time still there."

Ms Bhutto, who hopes to contest elections in January to become prime minister for a third time, said most Pakistanis were now "fed up with extremism and militancy" and anxious to see the ISI tamed.

However, such is the agency's reputation for destabilising successive Pakistani civilian governments that its it is by no means clear whether Ms Bhutto would come out on top. A mass purge of the ISI could see a repeat of problems experienced in Iraq, where the removal of Ba'athist security agents after the fall of Saddam Hussein pushed many directly into the insurgent ranks.

"It is obvious why she might want to kick them out, but it will be very difficult for her," said one Pakistan-based Western official. "It is one of the major friction points in Pakistani politics."

Last night, the atmosphere in the Bhutto camp remained subdued, and a planned trip to visit the grave of her father in the family's home town of Larkana was postponed while officials reassessed the security threat against her.

In the meantime she is in effect confined to her home in Karachi, a reminder of the grim years she endured under house arrest during Haq's time. She has pledged to stay in Pakistan to campaign in general elections in January, but the prospect of further attacks means she may have to think carefully before organising mass rallies.

Additional reporting: Massoud Ansari