Launching a broadside against former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has accused them of swindling $2 billion of state funds and vehemently discounted any possibility of their return to the centrestage of the country's politics.
Dubbing the two leaders, who live abroad, as 'looters and blunderers', Musharraf, who led a bloodless coup against Sharif in October 1999, ruled out chances of their return to Pakistan's political scene from their exile.
"Benazir and Nawaz plundered $2 billion from the national exchequer and turned Pakistan into a failed state. How can they be allowed to return," he said, during an interactive session at Columbia University on Friday.
While Sharif was exiled to Jeddah by Musharraf, Bhutto is in self-exile, fearing arrest in connection with several cases filed against her. Musharraf said Bhutto, who is currently in Geneva to appear before a Swiss court in connection with allegations of money laundering while she was in power, would find herself in an embarrassing position.
"Defending her conduct might become too difficult for her," he was quoted as saying by the Pakistani media. He, however, said that Bhutto's Pakistan People Party and Pakistan Muslim League-N, headed by Sharif, can contest the next general elections to be held in 2007, as there were no curbs on them.
The General said he regarded PPP as a great party, 'which had many good persons amongst its rank and file but these people must not link their destiny with individuals.'