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Indo-Pak relations will deteriorate: Bhutto

Shanthi Shankarkumar in Chicago

Former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto has warned that relations between India and Pakistan will continue to deteriorate and placed the blame squarely on General Perveiz Musharraf who assumed power six months ago.

As part of a lecture tour in the US, Bhutto spoke on Thursday at the University of Chicago about the volatile situation in South Asia and warned of the dangers of a "nuclear state that has governments that rise and fall on personality slurs."

She also reminded her audience that Pakistan was a country in turmoil. "Democracy in Pakistan has died a thousand deaths... Our economy is sinking, relations with India are worsening, the Kashmir issue burns hotter than ever and Pakistan's relations with the West have reached an all-time low, to the point where Pakistan is almost on the list of countries promoting terrorism," Bhutto said.

On the Kashmir issue, she hoped India and Pakistan would work towards achieving peace for all the people -- Hindu and Muslim -- who live in the region.

Although once a proponent of nuclear arms for Pakistan, Bhutto criticized the drain the nuclear race is putting on Pakistan's economy. Pakistan needs to evaluate if it "can maintain parity with its neighbor, a tooth for a tooth, a bone for a bone," she said.

She also criticized General Musharraf for his refusal to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty just because India did not. Bhutto maintained the initial euphoria that greeted General Musharraf's coup had evaporated because the general keeps delaying an election.

For the major part of her address to the 375-strong crowd Bhutto took on the tone of martyr, speaking at length about the the pain and suffering her family has endured over the years. Her speech suggested that she was a victim of a system whose only goal was to dislodge her from power.

After her hour-long lecture about the travails of her political and personal life, she parried questions from the audience in a lively exchange that lasted 45 minutes. It was vintage Bhutto on display -- articulate and persuasive, exhuding the confidence of a woman who believes that life is one big comeback trail.

Describing her life in exile as that of a "nomad," she vowed to restore democracy to her country and to exonerate herself and her husband Asif Ali Zardari of all corruption charges.

She circumvented questions on graft charges against her and Zardari, describing them as "trumped up" by her successor, Nawaz Sharief, and the "mafia" that she says controls Pakistan and continues to do so under General Musharraf. The "mafia," according to Bhutto, consists of generals who supported the radical Islamic civil war in Afghanistan and vehemently oppose democracy.

The organizers of the event, the South Asian Student Association at the University of Chicago, were disappointed with the low turnout. Outside the hall, a handful of protesters held signs dubbing her 'Convicted Criminal at Large' and 'Enemy of Islam.'

One boisterous protester had to be forcibly escorted from the hall. Bhutto dismissed the protesters as Islamic extremists who want to keep her out of power and want the clerics to rule her country.

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