KARACHI: Former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf has rejected claims of Mark Siegel regarding call to Benzair and said he never spoke to her on phone.
Mushrraf termed Siegal’s allegations as ‘false, fabricated, fictitious and malicious.’
He was speaking to Council of foreign relation in Karachi.
Musharraf poised a question that Asif Ali Zardari stayed in presidency for five years after me, why did he not file a single case against him?
Earlier, he posted a message on social media today stating that if Siegal is speaking truth, then why he not mentioned these things in last book of Benazir published under his authorization.
Musharraf stated that he strongly and unequivocally rejects the claim of Siegel, a close advisor, paid lobbyist and co-author of the last book of the former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
“I am shocked and amazed at Mr. Siegel’s assertion that I made a threatening phone call to Ms. Bhutto.”
The former president went on to say that besides meeting Benazir twice in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), he only spoke to her once in his life on the phone after she had returned to Pakistan in October 2007.
“In that conversation, I shared with Ms. Bhutto, intelligence information that was conveyed to me personally by the leadership in UAE, indicating suicide bombers were planning an attack against her.”
He further said that he finds the testimony of Siegel despicable and finds the implications to be libelous with malicious intent.
“Mr. Siegel’s statement also compels me to inquire from him, why did he choose to omit this fabricated claim from the last book of Ms. Bhutto: Reconciliation, Islam, Democracy and the West, which he co-authored and was published after Ms. Bhutto’s assassination.”
He added that, “It is also widely known in the public domain, that Ms. Bhutto wrote a letter to me a few days before her return to Pakistan in October 2007, in which she had expressed threats from General Hamid Gul, Brigadier Ejaz Shah, and Chaudhary Pervaiz Elahi. If I had also threatened her, I wonder why she would write to me to solicit protection from these gentlemen.”
Musharraf further said that, “It is also extremely mystifying as to why former president Zardari, who Mark Siegel claims was also present with Ms. Bhutto when she received this threatening phone call from me, has never mentioned it and did not pursue this claim aggressively while he was the president of Pakistan for five years.”
On Thursday, key witness, journalist and lobbyist Mark Seigel said in his recorded statement that Benazir Bhutto received a threatening call from Musharraf three weeks prior to her arrival in Pakistan.
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