India can't trust Benazir Bhutto, says Narayanan

New Delhi: Former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto isn’t inspiring confidence in Delhi. National Security Advisor M K Narayanan has said that it is difficult to believe if Bhutto would deliver on her promise to extradite international terrorist Dawood Ibrahim and terrorists like Masood Azhar and Hafiz Mohammad Sayeed.

He was speaking exclusively to Karan Thapar on Devil’s Advocate.

“Her track record is not necessarily something that would make us believe that she will follow to the letter and the spirit of what she has said," Narayanan added.

“The single most important entity in Pakistan remains the army and the ISI and I find it extremely difficult to believe that prime minister Benazir Bhutto, if she becomes that, will have a free hand in doing all the things that she wishes to do, but we hope that she will do her best.”

Narayanan sounded hopeful that Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf would be able to continue the peace process with India.

“I think there are things in the pipeline, things which are cooking, which are half cooked or three quarters cooked, which we would like to take forward. But would Musharraf be able to convince the other power centres that have come up in addition to himself that this is the best thing for Pakistan? That's a question mark,” he said.

“But we're hopeful that if he overcomes all the obstacles he will have a degree of credibility and acceptance that would make it easier for him to do so.”

Asked how much power Musharraf has lost by doffing his uniform, Narayanan spoke of the three-way split in power between the civilian President, the Army Chief and the new Prime Minister, which the President will have to contend with.

Narayanan described new Army Chief Ashfaq Kayani, a former ISI chief, as a ‘professional soldier’ who is a ‘close comrade’ of Musharraf.

Therefore, he was of the view that the relationship between Musharraf and Kayani will remain cordial. "How long is a matter (of conjecture) the basic point is how does a civilian President play out in Pakistan when the Army is still the dominant force?

"This is something, we will have to look at closely," he said.

He did not see General Kayani indulging in an adventurous action against India. "He's too professional a soldier to attempt it".

Narayanan said, "General Kayani was not a man with great political ambitions. The soldiers who know him think he's a loyal individual."

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