Benazir Bhutto demands parliamentary probe into the Bajaur incident

Islamabad: Former Prime Minister and Chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party Benazir Bhutto has condemned the reported killing of innocent women and children in an air raid on a Madarassah in Bajaur on Monday morning.

In a statement today she said that the PPP was opposed to Talibinisation as well as Terrorism, however, reports that in fact the targets were not terrorists but innocent people needed to be independently probed. She called for an impartial parliamentary probe into the incident.

The former Prime Minister said that international troops investigated allegations made against their own national soldiers and officers. For example when allegations of abuse arose over Abu Gharieb or about Haditha, judicial proceedings were undertaken by the military.

She said that it was not understood why Islamabad was failing to investigate reports of mass killings of its citizens. She said it was important to separate the citizens from the terrorists as winning the war against terrorism also involved winning the hearts and minds of people.

Benazir Bhutto appealed to the people of the tribal areas to isolate the terrorists who were posing a danger to the well being of Pakistan.