ISLAMABAD: The former Pakistan military ruler, Ayub Khan, whose diaries have been published posthumously in the form of a book, had accused the former Prime Minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, of declaring himself an Indian citizen in courts till 1958 to get compensation for the property left by his parents in India before the Partition.

``Up to the time he became a Minister in 1958, Bhutto had been declaring before the Indian courts that he was an Indian citizen residing in Karachi. The object was to get some compensation for the property left by his parents in India,'' Khan wrote.

In a noting in the new book ``Diaries of Field Marshal Mohummad Ayub Khan from 1966-1972,'' being released here on May 4, Khan wrote on June 30, 1967 that ``an awkward question was asked in the National Assembly.''

``In fact, he was selling his soul for about one lakh fifty thousand rupees. All this was not known to us till recently when the matter was discussed in Indian Parliament and came out in the press,'' said Pakistan's first military ruler, who took over power in a bloodless coup in 1958 and relinquished power under intense pressure to another military ruler Gen. Yahya Khan.

Pouring scorn

Throughout his diaries, Ayub poured scorn on Bhutto, whom he detested intensely and accused him of offering to the United States to spy on other delegations in the United Nations during a meeting with the then U.S. Secretary of State.

In another noting, Bhutto was accused of trying to become another Krishna Menon.

— PTI

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