Islamabad: The Pakistani Army labelled former prime minister Benazir Bhutto a "security risk" for the country in 1990, according to former Military Intelligence (MI) chief Brigadier Hamid Saeed.
The Express Tribune quoted Saeed as saying that Bhutto`s public criticism of the army had landed her in hot waters.
Saeed claimed that Bhutto had also blamed the army for supplying weapons to ``Muhajirs`` in Karachi, citing the target killings of political workers by rival groups in the city. She had also publicly slammed the army for enriching uranium to levels not acceptable to world powers, he said.
Furthermore, Saeed claimed that Bhutto in another incident censured the army for conducting an annual military exercise in Sindh without her consent, adding that the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) was forced to issue a press release clarifying that under the law the army chief was not obliged to seek anyone``s permission for conducting training exercises in any part of the country.
Saeed also referred to a BBC interview of Bhutto in which she had voiced her support to India in crushing the armed dissident Khalistan movement in Indian Punjab.
Saeed also alleged that the Bhutto-led government had also given sensitive posts in the government to Al-Zulfiqar activists, endangering national security. The retired brigadier alleged that these activists had been given training by India to carry out acts of terrorism and that a record of these terrorists was available with the intelligence agencies.
Saeed claimed that after the Bhutto government was sent packing through a presidential order on September 12, 1990, the then DG MI Maj Gen Asad Durrani directed him to open six accounts in different banks, send him the titles of the accounts. He said funds began pouring in to the accounts from September 16, 1990, and by October 22, 1990, Rs 140 million had been deposited in these accounts.
Recently, the Supreme Court had ruled that the 1990 election was rigged and that a political cell maintained by the then president Ghulam Ishaq Khan supported the formation of the IJI to stop a victory of the PPP. The ruling said Ghulam Ishaq Khan, Beg and Durrani violated the Constitution, and ordered the government to take legal action against them.
ANI
