Islamabad: Slain former Pakistan Premier Benazir Bhutto's husband Asif Ali Zardari has slammed President Pervez Musharraf for saying that she was to blame for her assassination and accused him of trying to shift the responsiblity.

Zardari also criticised the government for changing its stand on the cause of Bhutto's death, saying the authorities had "something to hide". The Interior Ministry earlier said Bhutto had died of a skull fracture but Musharraf later admitted she might have been shot.

Musharraf had told US television network CBS that Bhutto alone was to blame for emerging through the sun-roof of her bulletproof vehicle to greet supporters after the election rally on December 27. "I think it was she to blame alone. Nobody else. Responsibility is hers," he said.

Speaking to reporters late last night in Bhutto's ancestral village of Naudero, Zardari responded to Musharraf's comments by saying, "It's a total insult to the cause of democracy that he (Musharraf) could not save the one person that could keep Pakistan together."

"I think he is trying to shift responsibility, to say the least," Zardari said. "She's on record as having written to him (Musharraf) asking permission for international assistance and security which they denied her."

Source : PTI