The Taliban must be defeated in Pakistan this year or the country risks falling under the sway of extremists much as Afghanistan did before September 11, 2001, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said on Friday.
Bhutto, who hopes to return from exile and run for prime minister again in elections this year, also warned that the judicial crisis gripping Pakistan could spin out of control and underscores the importance of restoring civilian rule.
"They (the Taliban) have actually established a mini-state in the tribal areas of Pakistan. My fear is that if these forces are not stopped in 2007, they are going to try to take on the state of Pakistan itself," Bhutto told Reuters in an interview. "In my view it is a genuine threat," she said.
Other commentators have warned of the dangers to Pakistan of a resurgent Taliban, which was routed from power in neighbouring Afghanistan by the US invasion following the September 11 attacks.
Bhutto said the Taliban comeback was particularly dire because President Pervez Musharraf was unable to suppress elements of the Pakistani security forces that remain sympathetic to the Taliban. Musharraf also has been exploiting the presence of the extreme Islamist movement as a rationale for maintaining his military rule beyond general elections due before the end of 2007, she said.
"General Musharraf does say that he wants to go after terrorists, that he wants to go after the forces that support the Taliban, but he's unable to do it," Bhutto said from her apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, where she lives with her ailing husband when she's not working for her return to Pakistani politics from Dubai. "The people in the areas must see that it is in their benefit to kick out the extremist forces," Bhutto said.
To that end she proposes a renewed commitment to health, education and infrastructure in tribal areas. In the absence of government welfare, Islamist religious schools have stepped in, winning over the poor population, she said.
Bhutto, 53, became the first female prime minister in the Muslim world when she was elected in 1988 at age 35. She was deposed in 1990, re-elected in 1993, and ousted again in 1996.
Bhutto plans to return for the elections with her secular Pakistan Peoples Party, but there are questions about under which conditions. Through third parties, she is negotiating her return with Musharraf, who has passed a law banning her from seeking a third term. She also faces allegations of graft which she says were fabricated.
Her immediate concern was the crisis created by ouster of the country's Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary, who was suspended a week ago after a meeting with Musharraf. On Friday, Pakistani police fired tear gas, detained about 150 activists and raided a television station as protesters took to the streets calling for Chaudhary's reinstatement.
"The judicial crisis highlights that if you don't bring about a peaceful political transfer that events could get out of control because there is a lot of frustration. The judicial crisis has touched a raw nerve which has shown how deep-seated the frustration within Pakistan is," Bhutto said.
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