Osama in Mush basement: Benazir

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">LONDON: Half-jesting, half-serious, Benazir Bhutto has told shocked Western capitals that the world’s most wanted man, Osama bin Laden, may be well be securely hidden in the "basement of the presidency of Pakistan", three years after George W. Bush set out to hunt him down.<br /><br />"But you’ll have to ask General Musharraf if it is true", she finished mockingly in what many believe to be the swiftest, single-shot, character assassination in Pakistani politics.<br /><br />Benazir’s mock maliciousness towards Musharraf comes barely 48 hours after she made a humiliating appearance in a Geneva courtroom to deny she siphoned off millions of dollars of Pakistan’s money during her two terms as prime minister.<br /><br />On Friday, back in London, Bhutto recounted – for the benefit of wondering British television viewers – what she cannily described as "the joke".<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Next Page: </span><a href="/articleshow/msid-762771,curpg-2.cms">Musharraf is not amused</a><br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal">But Musharraf''s men may not be laughing, five months before Bush''s attempt to get re-elected on the strength of his worldwide ''war on terror'' and promise to bring bin Laden to justice.<br /><br />The seriousness of the link Benazir made between the Pakistani president and the man being hunted down by 10,000 US troops was not entirely lost on Western politicians, pundits and press.<br /><br />Despite Benazir’s disclaimer about the "joke’s" veracity, terrorism experts returned to scanning the significance of bin Laden’s last known, hand-written communication to the outside world.<br /><br />Earlier this year, the Saudi militant had told his mother he was "in good health and in a very, very safe place. They will not get me unless Allah wills it".<br /><br />Bin Laden’s cheeriness, despite his debilitating need for regular kidney dialysis, has long been considered odd because he is reliably thought to be within the 150-mile border badlands of Pakistan and Afghanistan.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Next Page: </span><a href="/articleshow/msid-762771,curpg-3.cms">Was Benazir correct?</a><br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section3"><div class="Normal">Within hours of Benazir’s remarks, a senior Pakistani source stressed to TNN that her three decades in public life had never revealed a sparkling sense of humour. <br /><br />Instead, Benazir had accurately analysed bin Laden’s relationship with the Taliban just days after 9/11, said the source.<br /><br />At the time, Benazir had quoted "informed sources" within the Taliban to forecast that bin Laden’s hold on Afghanistan was so strong he would never be handed over to the US.<br /><br />Some said Benazir’s comments about Musharraf’s alleged protection for bin Laden was rumour-mongering by an embittered former Pakistani prime minister in self-exile.<br /><br />Benazir herself candidly admitted she could only return to Pakistan if the General were to sacrifice his dual role as army chief.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Next Page: </span><a href="/articleshow/msid-762771,curpg-4.cms">Is Benazir a better Western ally?</a><br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section4"><div class="Normal">Lauding the ongoing Indo-Pak peace process "even though it was started by General Musharraf", she insisted she and the late Rajiv Gandhi had begun the essential nuclear confidence-building measures required to move to a new era of South Asian peace.<br /><br />But in what some described as an unashamed application from leading Western capitals for Musharraf’s job, Bhutto reiterated that "there was no al-Qaida when I was prime minister".<br /><br />She added the heavy hint, "(Then) Osama bin Laden did not hold press conferences declaring war on the West".<br /><br />Even now, she claimed, her Pakistan People’s Party was the one, mass organisation that could "gather intelligence" about anti-Western religious radicalism. </div> </div>