Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud said on Saturday that he will not co-operate with the United Nations (UN) in its probe of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination. “Surely, the UN will say it’s the Taliban that have murdered the former prime minister, as the United States has already said that Baitullah is involved in her assassination,” he told journalists at a press conference. “The UN is a slave body [to the US],” he said, reiterating his denial of any involvement in the murder.“We didn’t kill Benazir Bhutto. We are not involved,” Mehsud said. “She had not taken any action against us, so there was no need to harm such a person.” He alleged that intelligence agencies had killed her, but did not elaborate, the AP news agency reported. He said that he was in contact with Pakistan People’s Party Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari about allegations against him, adding that Pakistanis should think about who could benefit from Benazir’s assassination.
Proud: Mehsud said that he was proud to be an enemy of the US. “America is our enemy and we’ll fight against it wherever it is possible,” he said. He said that the Taliban could not negotiate with Americans, as Christians and Jews could not be friends with Muslims. “They are the enemies of Muslims,” he said. He said that Afghan Taliban made up 95 percent of those leading the fight against US-led forces in Afghanistan, adding that Pakistanis and other foreigners made up only five percent of the insurgents.
Peace: Mehsud confirmed reports that the Taliban had been holding peace talks with the government. He said the peace accord would be successful only if Pakistan did not allow America to interfere in its internal affairs, adding that durable peace could return if Pakistan controlled its prevailing situation on its own as a sovereign state. However, he said that the Taliban could not tolerate the army and all troops would have to abandon the area. He said his group “sincerely wants” peace talks being conducted via tribal elders to succeed. He defended suicide attacks as a viable form of self-defence, saying that such attacks were equivalent to atomic bombs. He said there were no training camps in the area and that Mullah Omar and Osama Bin Laden were not hiding in the region. “But we’ll welcome them. They are great people and mujahideen and Muslims love them,” he said.
The TTP leader said his organisation was not involved in the kidnapping of PakistanÂ’s Ambassador to Afghanistan Tariq Azizuddin, saying the ambassador had been kidnapped by some other group and had not been in South Waziristan. According to Online, he said that the TTP helped secure AzizuddinÂ’s release but had no knowledge of his location. He said reports of foreigners in South Waziristan were propaganda to justify US attacks in the area, NNI reported.