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Tuesday,
November 27, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Laden hijacked Taliban, says Benazir New Delhi, November 26 Ms Bhutto strongly supported the Simla Agreement on the ground that this agreement had ensured the longest-lasting peace between India and Pakistan, but expressed her disagreement over the concept of converting the Line of Control into the international border between India and Pakistan to settle dispute between the two countries. In another important averment, she sought to make a distinction between the local Kashmiris waging a fight for self-determination in Kashmir and extraneous non-Kashmiri outfits like Lashkar-e-Toiba, adding that such outfits had no role “be it Kashmir, be it Chechnya or be it Bosnia.” Ms Bhutto, currently visiting India, said at a press conference here that when the Taliban was created during her premiership her interior minister Nasirullah Babar had said “these (the Talibanis) are our children.” But she added that during her tenure the Taliban had not been hijacked and, in fact, the Taliban and the Northern Alliance had signed an agreement in August 1996. She disclosed that in 1989 Bin Laden had financed a move to topple her government. Later he financed Ramzi Yousef, a terrorist now in a US jail, to assassinate her. |
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Benazir committed to conflict management of Kashmir dispute New Delhi, November 26 Speaking at a session on Social Development and Women’s Empowerment organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here, Ms Bhutto also covered human rights and democracy, the role played by women heads of state in South Asia, the process of globalisation, and Indo-Pak political and economic relations. Expressing sadness at the price that the women of Pakistan paid for the dismissal of a democratic government led by her, Ms Bhutto said an array of special programmes for women instituted by her government were hit first. She made it clear that the empowerment of women lay less in laws and more in economic independence. Pointing out the apparent contradictions with regard to women in the South Asian region, Ms Bhutto said while being the home to some of the deepest prejudices that existed against women, the region also was home to the largest number of women elected in any place in the world. In today’s globalising world, more and more women were entering the workforce and were changing the social complexion of market forces. On the other hand as consumers, women were increasingly changing consumer patterns of the past. Acknowledging the emergence of the WTO as the key global trade structure which would fashion the economics of the next half century. |
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Benazir floors Sonia, scribes with wit New Delhi, November 26 It was an embarrassing compliment to Ms Bhutto as she has been living in London since her self-imposed exile in 1999 and there was no way she could send another consignment of Pakistani mangoes. Unable to give Mrs Gandhi sweet mangoes, Ms Bhutto did even better: she gave her sweet tongue. Ms Bhutto changed the topic and told Mrs Gandhi that women could change the political scenario of entire South Asia. She said Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia were already at the helm of affairs in their respective countries and the scene of women power in the subcontinent could be complete if she (Mrs Gandhi) were to come to power in India and she herself in Pakistan. Needless to say, Ms Bhutto’s wit and humour floored Mrs Gandhi. |
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