This Article is From Apr 02, 2010

Benazir, the PM, was cruel: Fatima Bhutto

New Delhi: Fatima Bhutto, the outspoken niece of former Pakistani Prime Minster Benazir Bhutto, is in India to release her book 'Songs of Blood and Sword' on the tale of one of Pakistan's most powerful family.

Speaking to NDTV in an exclusive interview, she said President Asif Ali Zardari was behind her father Murtaza's death and the moral responsibility laid with her aunt Benazir Bhutto.

"Before Zardari ascended to the presidency, he was facing four murder cases in the courts of Pakistan that were quickly wiped clean. He was acquitted in the middle of four ongoing trials involving the killing of 11 men. My father was one of them," she said.

"It's more important to speak about justice when you see that there's one law for the powerful and one law for the average citizen. I don't think it's for the first time that criminals have ascended to the highest posts in power. Certainly in Pakistan it's a new precedent for us. We need to be more aware as to who's leading this country at the moment," she added.

"There is certainly a moral responsibility for my father's murder. And that lays squarely with his sister, my aunt Benazir's government. Benazir was the PM at the time and she presided over a state where security officials killed with impunity. Extra-judicial killings were the norm. Some 3000 men were killed in the two years of operation clean up which was led by the Karachi police. So moral responsibility absolutely rests with the government," she further said.

Fatima also said her aunt was two different people for her - one who used to bring her books to read, and the other who was the Prime Minister and was cruel.

Watch the full interview with Fatima Bhutto below.

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