Musharraf failing to curb extremism in Pakistan: Benazir

Pakistan's first female premier said the Pakistani authorities should be applauded for helping their British counterparts in the August 10 operation against an alleged plot to blow up US-bound aircraft.

But Benazir told BBC News 24 television she was concerned about the effectiveness of efforts to curb fanaticism because "when terrorists are apprehended the roads all seem to lead to Islamabad".

"The international community took a decision to back the military dictatorship of General Musharraf but that's not enough," she said.

"We need to create a climate within Pakistan where the moderate forces can triumph. At the moment I see that the religious parties are gaining in strength and the militants, despite several crackdowns are intact.

"As long as the militants remain intact they will continue to make further plots."

Benazir, who twice governed Pakistan in 1988-1990 and 1993-1996, said part of the problem came in the contradiction between Musharraf's support for the spread of democracy in neighbouring Afghanistan and his own unelected status.

The president had proved himself unable to deal with the militants because of the combined effects of a lack of an effective political system and widespread poverty, she added.

Benazir, 53, left Pakistan in April 1999 amid a string of corruption allegations, which she denies and argues are politically motivated.

In May this year, she and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, whom Musharraf ousted in 1999, agreed a "charter of democracy" and pledged to return from exile to challenge the incumbent president in elections due next year.