US, Pak promised Bhutto she will be the next PM: Report

ISLAMABAD: Slain Pakistan People's Party leader Benazir Bhutto was given an assurance by the "highest authorities" in Pakistan and the US that she would be the next prime minister after the 2008 general elections, according to a media report on Wednesday.
Data retrieved from Bhutto's two BlackBerry phones, which were recently found by the staff at her home in Karachi, revealed the "firm assurance" given to her by authorities in Pakistan and the US that she would be the next premier, The Express Tribune newspaper quoted its sources as saying.
An unnamed close associate of Bhutto, who is now a member of parliament, informed Bhutto through an email that the then US secretary of state and the then chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence agency had "given the nod" to her becoming the next premier, the report said.
One email sent by a leading PPP leader to Bhutto on October 23, 2007 said: "Respected Prime Minister, the United States confirmed that a crucial message had been sent to intelligence agencies of Pakistan, specifically not to interfere in party affairs and stay away from the electoral process.
"Secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and director-general Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) have done a secret deal for your premiership. Congratulations Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and warm regards."
Two-time former premier Bhutto, who returned to Pakistan from self-exile in October 2007, was barred from a third stint as prime minister under a constitutional provision.
Army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, who was the ISI chief in 2007, had held secret negotiations with Bhutto on a possible power-sharing arrangement with then President Pervez Musharraf before her return to Pakistan.
Kayani was replaced as ISI chief by Lt Gen Nadeem Taj in October 2007.
Nearly 60 emails were retrieved from Bhutto's BlackBerry phones by a special team of the Federal Investigation Agency, 'The Express Tribune' reported.
The e-mails revealed "various facts that helped connect the dots in the investigation" into Bhutto's assassination in Rawalpindi in December 2007, the report said.
In an email sent by Bhutto to American journalist Ron Suskind some days before her assassination, she referred to an "alarming message" sent by Musharraf: "You (Bhutto) should understand that your security is based on the state of relations between you and me (Bhutto and Musharraf)."
In another email dated October 26, 2007, Bhutto informed Mark Siegel, her spokesman in the US, about her dissatisfaction with her security.
"Nothing will happen, just wanted you to know. If it does, in addition to the names in my letter to President Musharraf, I would hold Musharraf responsible," she wrote.