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H S Rao in London
Former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto has said President Pervez Musharraf must respect the Lahore and Simla agreements as breaking from the past would be dangerous.
"One has to respect the agreements that have been signed by governments and I think Musharraf, in breaking from the past, is in the danger of losing the future," Bhutto told BBC World's 'Asia Today' programme.
"If Musharraf had reached out to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and myself and if he had tried to build a consensus, I think he would have been far more successful than he was going as the lone ranger," the Pakistan People's Party chief said.
She said there was too much emphasis by Musharraf on what he was wearing with less focus on the purpose of his India visit.
Asked whether he was wrong to focus solely on Kashmir, she said: "It's important to focus on Kashmir and the Indians had said while I was prime minister in my second term that we're prepared to discuss Kashmir a separate agenda item."
Stating that Musharraf lacked "a proper brief," she said: "It seemed he came with a lot of baggage. He wanted to show Indians that he was not the killer of Kargil. Here he was posing in front of Taj Mahal...he was too much burdened by the past."
Asked to comment on Musharraf's reaction to concessions made by India on trade and tourism, she said those were old agreements and added that the military ruler "lacked knowledge or appreciation of the past."
On the need for Musharraf to broker some kind of peace deal with India, she said: "I support a peace deal...but I have serious reservations on whether Musharraf is the right man to do it."
Bhutto said since he had failed to build an economy, Musharraf could use India as a diversion rather than seeking peace.
"I think it's very important for two nuclear-capable states to reduce tensions and I didn't see that happen when the general was there," she said.
PTI
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