New Delhi: Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto has accused former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi of not keeping his "promise" in 1988 to withdraw Indian troops from Siachen.

Reacting strongly to National Security Adviser M K Narayanan's comments that she had not kept "a number of promises" made to the late Prime Minister during their meeting in Pakistan that year, Bhutto said that she had been "very, very surprised and extremely hurt" by them.

"If anyone kept their word, it was me. Not Rajiv," the former Pakistani Prime Minister and PPP leader told Outlook magazine in an interview.

Gandhi had gone back to India after meeting her and "then called me on his way to the Commonwealth (Summit) to say that he could not keep his promise to withdraw from Siachen and that he would do it only after the elections (1989)", she said.

Bhutto said Narayanan, who made the remarks in a television interview, could not have known what transpired in 1988 because it was a one-to-one meeting between Gandhi and her.

"Nobody else knew what Rajiv and I discussed. There was no fly on the wall. How can anyone say I have not kept my promise to him when the single biggest result of that meeting was the end of the Sikh insurgency. I made no promises that could have been broken," she said emphatically.

Narayanan had said that it's "difficult to believe" that Bhutto would live up to her promises if she became Prime Minister.

"I know that in 1988, when she met with Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, she made a number of promises. Whether she was unable (to fulfil them) we know that she was immediately curbed by the military on that point... I think it would be very optimistic that she could fulfil what she said...," he said.

Bhutto wondered how India could have forgotten the assistance she provided to curb the militancy in Punjab. "India was in a complete mess at that time. Does anyone remember that it was I who kept my promise to Prime Minister Gandhi when we met and he appealed to me for help in tackling
the Sikhs. Has India forgotten December, 1988? Have they forgotten the results of that meeting and how I helped curb the Sikh militancy?," she asked.

Bhutto did not elaborate on the precise help she provided to the Indian government to curb militancy in Punjab.

There was speculation that she may have handed over a dossier containing covert identities of Pakistani agents masterminding insurgency in Punjab.

Expressing anguish at Narayanan's comments, she said "does India really believe I am not a friend? I thought India always regarded me as a factor for peace, as a factor for India-Pakistan stability".

Bhutto said she had visited India three times in the recent past and always felt she was considered a great friend.

The former premier said whe was extremely hurt by India's suspicion about her. "Why does India believe that I will break my word, implying I cannot be trusted? I believe we share so much, a belief in democratic values, in democracy and human rights. I am very disappointed that India does not think so".

Source : PTI