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Pakistan president firmly denies conspiracy

Pervez Musharraf wants Scotland Yard to investigate Benazir Bhutto's assassination.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - President Pervez Musharraf vehemently denied Thursday that Pakistan's military and intelligence agencies were behind Benazir Bhutto's killing and implied she was partly at fault.

Despite threats by militants, Bhutto poked her head out of the sunroof of her vehicle to greet supporters at an election rally, Musharraf said.

He conceded there were shortcomings in Pakistan's investigation into the assassination, but he rejected accusations of a lapse in security for the former prime minister.

"The same military and intelligence agencies are using the same people who are attacking them? It's a joke," Musharraf said at a news conference, answering accusations that people connected to his government were involved in the suicide bomb and gun attack that killed Bhutto.

The president acknowledged that his decision to seek help from Scotland Yard to investigate the killing was partly to reassure people at home and abroad that there was no government involvement. Bhutto had accused elements in the ruling party of plotting to kill her.

"Here's a situation where maybe we need to go beyond ourselves to prove to the world and our people here, who are emotionally charged, that we don't mind going to any extent, as nobody is involved from the government side or the agencies," Musharraf said.

Bhutto's killing plunged an already volatile Pakistan deeper into crisis and stoked fears of a political meltdown.

It triggered an outbreak of rioting that has left nearly 60 people dead and caused more than a billion dollars in damage in the worst-hit province of Sindh. It also forced a six-week delay in parliamentary elections, seen as key to restoring democracy after eight years of military rule since Musharraf took power in a 1999 coup. The vote has been rescheduled for Feb. 18.

The assassination also exposed the skepticism of Pakistan's 160- million people over what the government tells them after local media began broadcasting still frames and video that challenged the government account. Bhutto's husband is demanding a U.N. inquiry.

Musharraf maintained Pakistan was capable of conducting the investigation, saying it was no "banana republic." But he admitted the government might have erred in giving a precise cause of death just a day after Bhutto's Dec. 27 killing although no autopsy was conducted.

Musharraf said Bhutto had been told of the militant threats against her. And he denied that a security lapse led to her death, as four mobile units with 30 officers escorted her, and more than 1,000 police were deployed at the Rawalpindi rally where she died.

He conceded other shortcomings in handling of the case, including the hosing down of the bomb site - a cleanup widely seen as undermining a detailed forensic examination. But he dismissed any suggestion there was a plan to conceal evidence.

"Cleaning the area, why did they do that? If you are meaning they did that by design, I would say no. It's just inefficiency, people thinking things have to be cleared, traffic has to go through," he said.

[Last modified January 4, 2008, 01:44:51]