Pakistani Ambassador Durrani: Bhutto Had ‘Best Protection Possible’

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• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  Now we turn to Pakistan's ambassador to the United States, Mahmud Ali Durrani.

  Mr. Ambassador, thank you for being here.

  MAHMUD ALI DURRANI, Pakistani Ambassador to United States: Pleasure.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  First, do you have any new information about who or what was behind this?

• MAHMUD ALI DURRANI:

  No, I don't have new information, but my assessment is that probably it is the same people who tried to kill Musharraf three times, who tried to kill our prime minister, and the same people who are carrying out suicide bombings on a daily basis in Pakistan. It is the extremists and terrorists.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  So, to those suspicions that Mr. Musharraf or his supporters had anything to do with this, as we just heard the reporter Griff Witte saying.

• MAHMUD ALI DURRANI:

  Yes, you see what has happened is — and I saw from film clips, too — people were very frustrated. They were very upset. They lost a leader just after she has finished her speech. And it is a day of mourning for Pakistan, no doubt.

  So, there is a level of frustration and people have voiced that against the government and probably against President Musharraf. But I think a saner look at it, it is very obvious it is extremists and terrorists. In fact, they had a common enemy, Musharraf and Benazir.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  You spoke to President Musharraf earlier today. What was his personal reaction?

• MAHMUD ALI DURRANI:

  Yes, I spoke to him, I think, about an hour-and-a-half or two hours maybe after the event. He was very upset. He was very disturbed.

  All that he said was that: I'm going to declare mourning in the country for a couple of days, but this should firm up our resolve to a greater extent to fight these extremists and terrorists.