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Islamabad, Sep.4 (ANI): Pakistan Information and Broadcasting Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira has rebutted reports regarding Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) giving assurance not to prosecute former President General Pervez Musharraf on high treason charges.

Kaira said the PPP has not given any ‘guarantee’ to any country regarding clemency to Musharraf.

“Though friendly countries generally give advice on various matters but it is not binding on the government,” Kaira said.

In an interview with The Nation, he categorically rejected media reports that Musharraf’s step down was pre-planned and a part of a ’secret’ arrangement.

“PPP had expelled Musharraf from Aiwan-e-Sadr with the support of masses,” he stressed.

When asked about Interior Advisor, Rehman Malik’s visit to Saudi Arabia, just before Musharraf’s meeting with king Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, Kaira said it was a routine affair and it had nothing to do with the Musharraf issue.

Kaira also denied presence of US Blackwater on Pakistani soil, saying Islamabad would never allow any private security agency to operate inside country’s territory.

“Some personnel of private security agencies of the US after taking clearance by the government are protecting the NATO trucks which transport supplies from Port Qasim to Afghanistan and nothing else,” he said.

“As the US is leading war against terror therefore its facilities and staff are more prone to terror attacks than other countries therefore they need more security to protect themselves,” he added. (ANI)