Benazir Bhutto, Chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples’ Party, has called on the government to fulfill its mandate to protect all citizens.  If unable to do so, it should resign.

The leader of Pakistan's largest opposition party, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, on Monday demanded government protection for the country's minority Christian population following bomb threats by Islamic extremists.

"The primary aim of a government is to provide protection to the life, liberty and pursuit of livelihood of the citizens," Bhutto said in a statement.

"Any government who cannot do this, must resign and make way for another that can give such protection," she added.

Ms Bhutto referred specifically to the recent threats against Christians in Charsadda to convert to Islam or face the consequences.  Saying the incident illustrates President Pervez Musharraf’s poor leadership, she charged him with forsaking his duty to protect the Pakistani people.

A PPP press release signed by Sherry Rehman, the party’s Central Information Secretary, went further.  She characterised intimidation of Christians in the North West Frontier Province as "a natural outcome of the Musharraf regime's incessant backing of the Talibanisation of the society."

Rehman noted that the extremists' offensive against the citizens has never been as blatant in the history of the country as it is today. "The fact that the state chooses to close its eyes to such grave violation of the citizen's rights is a source of immense encouragement for extremists seeking to impose their brand of Islam."  

Ms Bhutto has served as Prime Minister of Pakistan twice: 1988-1990 and 1993-1996.  In 1988, she became the first female head of state in the post-colonial Muslim world.

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