'Pakistanis Know I Can Be Tough’

Why not order a postmortem? You can do it; you're the chief executive.
Everything is not black and white here. It would have very big political ramifications. If I just ordered the body exhumed, that would be careless, unless [Bhutto's] people agreed. But they will not.

Why?
Because they know it's a fact there is nothing wrong.

So you think Mr. Zardari [Bhutto's husband] is playing a political game?
Everybody is trying to gain political advantage; the entire opposition is trying to take political advantage. I know what [Bhutto's opponents] used to say about her, but all of a sudden ... it makes me laugh, actually. And then there's the cultural factor. Somehow, in our culture, a postmortem of a woman is not done. When the body was at the hospital, Zardari himself said it could not be done; he didn't want the postmortem done.

Now he says if there were a United Nations investigation he would allow a postmortem.
There cannot be a U.N. investigation. There are not two or three countries involved. Why should there be a U.N. investigation? This is ridiculous.

You said in one of your comments afterwards, "I told [her] to be careful and I told her that this was not the Pakistan that you left. It's a different country." Is it fair to point out that for most of that period you have been in charge of Pakistan? Why has Pakistan gotten so much less safe under your presidency?
Because of terrorism and extremism, which we have been facing since 1979, for 30 years. We fought a war in Afghanistan in coalition with the Americans against the Soviets for 10 years. We trained the Taliban and armed them and sent them in [to Afghanistan]. Was I doing this? The West was doing it, the United States was doing it. Then what happened between 1989 and 2001? Mayhem and destruction. Did I do this?

But in the late '90s a politician in Pakistan could have addressed a rally without fear for her life. Within Pakistan there has been a rise of militancy and suicide bombings under your presidency.
You have to see it in context. How did suicide bombing [start]? Who started it? The LTTE [the militant group in Sri Lanka], and then it was taken up by the Palestinians. And then Iraq. I would say we were the last to adopt it. Even your own [U.S.] intelligence says that Al Qaeda or the Taliban—whatever you want to call them—are now moving east into settled populations. Why?