Benazir did not stick to her agreements with me: Musharraf

Benazir Bhutto was asked not to return to Pakistan before elections...

Benazir Bhutto was asked not to return to Pakistan before elections, which she agreed to but returned and 8220;to an extent did not stick to her agreements with me8221;, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has said.

8220;Up and down. It wasn8217;t constant. I had asked her not to come before the election, and that we will arrange8230; then she could come after the election, which she agreed. She had agreed. But then she decided to come all of a sudden. Now that changed a little. It upset me a little,8221; Musharraf said in an interview on the Sixty Minutes show on CBS News.

When asked about his relations with Benazir before her assassination, Musharraf said, 8220;Well to an extent yes. She used to change the goalposts frequently, depending on the ups and downs here in the country and on many occasions she annoyed me but on many other occasions she was positive.8221;

8220;I think in such a situation it8217;s not your personal likes and dislikes. It8217;s more for the nation that I thought one has to interact with her8230; No I wouldn8217;t say I didn8217;t like her 8212; well, I like or dislike, I didn8217;t have any kind of personal friendship with her,8221; Musharraf said.

He maintained that he had personally told Bhutto that she was under threat and that under the circumstances, the PPP leader should not have done the things she did on that fateful day in December.

Bhutto returned to Pakistan in October following a power-sharing deal between her and Musharraf finalised in Abu Dhabi in July.

8220;This is unfortunately a very baseless allegation,8221; Musharraf said of the possibility that he had a hand in the killing of Bhutto.

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8220;Why would I be informing her about all these intelligence reports that we have against her, the threat to her? Why would I be doing that?8230; I can8217;t prove it legally, I can8217;t prove my innocence legally. But I can prove it only through what I stand for as a person,8221; he said. 8220;There8217;s no real protection against a suicide bomber.8221;

Musharraf blamed the al-Qaeda for Bhutto8217;s assassination, particularly local extremist Beitullah Mehsud, who operates out of Pakistan8217;s lawless tribal region.

Stressing that the assassination of Bhutto came as an 8220;utter shock8221;, he said his relationship with the slain former premier was one of ups and downs.

The President further said that Bhutto made a mistake by going to the area where she was killed by ignoring warnings that 8220;there8217;s a likelihood of a suicide attempt8221;.

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8220;We asked her not to go. She insisted she would go. We stopped her. And we got flak from all over the world, from the media, from the Western media,8221; he said.

On the day of the assassination, Musharraf maintained that Bhutto broke a basic rule of security in a crowded charged political rally 8212; to be particularly careful while leaving.

8220;She should have just gone and moved fast, gone and waved, yes. But if you8217;re standing and 8212; because you are vulnerable. And all the film that you see, people are charging. Now, when people are there by the hundreds swarming around you, this man attacker is one of them, who can check these people at that stage?8221; Musharraf asked.