SUICIDE BOMBER SHOOTS HER, BLOWS HIMSELF UP AT RALLY IN RAWALPINDI, SETS OFF WAVE OF WORRY ACROSS THE AFTER OCTOBER 18 ATTACK, SHE SAID: I know who my enemies are, even if you hide behind seven veils, I can still see your hand
Gandhi, Bhutto, Kennedy... Three families that have been synonymous with political royalty around the world for decades. These are also the three families that have been blighted by violent, bloody tragedy.
Weeks after miraculously surviving a suicide bomber’s attack in her home city of Karachi which killed 134, Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in a terror attack in Rawalpindi near Islamabad. Bhutto, 54, was fired upon by a gunman at close range minutes after she finished addressing an election rally. Moments later, a suicide bomber blew himself up. She was declared dead by doctors at a hospital at 6.16 pm after they had tried to resuscitate her for 35 minutes. She had bullet and shrapnel injuries in her neck and chest. At least 20 others were killed in the attack.
A close aide to Pakistan President
Pervez Musharraf said Islamic militants were responsible for the assassination, but Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party activists blamed Musharraf’s regime, saying the government had failed to provide adequate protection for their leader who was returning home after eight years of self-imposed exile.
Thousands of angry PPP supporters hit the streets immediately, setting government establishments and vehicles on fire. Fourteen people were killed in the violence that engulfed Karachi and soon spread to Islamabad and Lahore.
The assassination came just days after Musharraf lifted a state of emergency in Pakistan, which he had used to suspend the constitution and arrest thousands of political opponents, and which he said he had imposed in part because of terrorist threats by extremists in Pakistan.
Bhutto is survived by Asif Ali Zardari, a businessman she married in 1987, and two daughters (15 and 18) and a son (19) — who flew in from Dubai within hours of her death. Her two brothers also met with violent deaths some years ago.
Bhutto returned to Pakistan in October to present herself as the answer to the nation’s troubles: a tribune of democracy in a state that has been under military rule for eight years, and the leader of the country’s largest opposition political party, founded by her father, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
US script gone horribly wrong
Washington never publicly affirmed that it had a role in Benazir Bhutto’s return to Pakistan but her killing will raise questions on how far US is responsible for the developments. President Bush urged Musharraf to continue on the path to democracy to honour Bhutto’s memory, adding that the former PM knew her life was at risk when she went back to Pakistan, absolving his administration of blame. P 24 Deft politician Bhutto kept Musharraf, Pakistan guessing
Former prime minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto kept the country and its president Pervez Musharraf always guessing. One moment she was standing up to Musharraf, then seeming to accommodate him, and never quite revealing her actual intentions. In this Bhutto stirred as much distrust as hope among Pakistanis.
A graduate of Harvard and Oxford, she brought the backing of Washington and London, where she impressed with her political lineage, her considerable charm and her persona as a female Muslim leader.
But with these accomplishments, Bhutto also brought controversy, and a legacy among Pakistanis as a polarizing figure who during her two turbulent tenures as prime minister, first from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 1996, often acted imperiously and impulsively.
She faced deep questions about her personal probity in public office, which led to corruption cases against her in Switzerland, Spain and Britain, as well as in Pakistan.
Indeed, one of Bhutto’s main objectives in seeking to return to power was to restore the reputation of her husband, who was jailed for eight years in Pakistan, said Abdullah Riar, a former colleague of Bhutto’s. She told me, ‘‘Time will prove he is the Nelson Mandela of Pakistan,’’ Riar said.
Chaos and panic followed the attack. Griefstricken PPP activists torched vehicles to vent their fury. Bhutto’s death immediately raised questions about whether the parliamentary elections scheduled for January will be held or postponed.
Fourteen people were killed in the violence that gripped the nation within hours of the news of the assassination.
Musharraf went into an emergency huddle with top government officials. An aide said no decision had been made on whether to delay the national elections.
More Reports
P AKISTANI Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in a suicide attack this evening as she drove away from a campaign rally just minutes after addressing thousands of supporters. The death of the charismatic former Prime Minister threw the campaign for the January 8 election into chaos and stirred fears of mass protests and a wave of violence that had already erupted by Thursday night. Pak President Pervez Musharraf blamed Islamic terrorists for the killing.
"This is the work of those terrorists with whom we are engaged in war," he said in a na- tionally televised speech. "Today, after this tragic incident, I want to express my firm re- solve ... we will not rest until we eliminate these terrorists and root them out." Bhutto's death left a void at the top of her Pakistan People's Party, the largest political group in the country, and threw into turmoil U.S. President George W. Bush's plan to bring stability to this key US ally by reconciling her and Musharraf.
Speaking to reporters at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, a tense-looking Bush condemned the killing and demanded that "those who committed this crime must be brought to justice." Musharraf convened an emergency meeting with his senior staff, where they were expected to discuss whether to postpone the election, an official at the Interior Ministry said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks. He also announced three days of mourning for Bhutto.
Next to Musharraf, Bhutto, 54, was the best known political figure in the country, serving two terms as prime minister between 1988 and 1996. She was respected in the West for her lib eral outlook and determination to combat the spread of Islamic extremism, a theme she re turned to often in her campaign speeches.
As news of her death spread, supporters at the hospital in Rawalpindi smashed glass doors and stoned cars. Many chanted slogans against Musharraf, accusing him of complicity in her killing. In Karachi, shop owners quickly closed their businesses as protesters set tyres on fire on the roads, torched several vehicles and burned a gas station, said
Fayyaz Leghri, a local police official. Gunmen shot and wounded two police officers, he said.
Akhtar Zamin, home minister for the southern Sindh province, said authorities would deploy troops to stop violence if needed.
Nawaz Sharif, another former premier and leader of a rival opposition party, rushed to the hospital and addressed the crowd.
"Benazir Bhutto was also my sister, and I will be with you to take the revenge for her death," he said. "Don't feel alone.
I am with you. We will take the revenge on the rulers."
Speaking to the BBC, Sharif also questioned whether to hold the elections.
"I think perhaps none of us is inclined to think of the elections," he said. "We would have to sit down and take a very serious look at the current situation together with the People's Party and see what we have to do in the coming days."
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who met with Bhutto just hours before her death, called her a brave woman with a clear vision "for her own country, for Afghanistan and for the region - a vision of democracy and prosperity and peace."
Suspicion for the blast fell on resurgent Islamic militants linked to al-Qaeda and the Taliban who hated Bhutto for her close ties to the US and her support for the war on terror. A local Taliban leader reportedly threatened to greet Bhutto's return to the country in October with suicide bombings.
The attacker struck as Bhutto was leaving a rally of thousands of supporters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.
"She was inside the vehicle and was coming out from the gate after addressing the rally when some of the youths started chanting slogans in her favor," said Sardar Qamar Hayyat, a leader from Bhutto's party who was about 10 yards away. "Then I saw a smiling Bhutto emerging from the vehicle's roof and responding to their slogans."
"Then I saw a thin, young man jumping toward her vehicle from the back and opening fire. Moments later, I saw her speeding vehicle going away. That was the time when I heard a blast and fell down," Hayyat said.
At least 20 others were killed in the blast, an Associated Press reporter at the scene saw.
Bhutto was rushed to the hospital and taken into emergency surgery. A doctor on the team that attended to Bhutto said she had a bullet in the back of the neck that damaged her spinal cord before exiting from the side of her head. Another bullet pierced the back of her shoulder and came out through her chest, he said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. She was given an open heart massage, but the main cause of death was damage to her spinal cord, he said.
"At 6:16 p.m. she expired," said Wasif Ali Khan, a member of Bhutto's party who was at Rawalpindi General Hospital.
Sen. Babar Awan, Bhutto's lawyer, said, "The surgeons confirmed that she has been martyred."
Bhutto's supporters at the hospital exploded in anger, smashing the glass door at the main entrance of the emergency unit. Others burst into tears. One man with a flag of Pakistan People's Party tied around his head was beating his chest.
"I saw her with my own eyes sitting in a vehicle after addressing the rally. Then, I heard an explosion," said Tahir Mahmood, 55, as she sobbed. "I am in shock. I cannot believe that she is dead," he said.
Some at the hospital began chanting, "Killer, Killer, Musharraf." A few began stoning cars outside.
"We repeatedly informed the government to provide her proper security and appropriate equipment including jammers, but they paid no heed to our requests," Malik said.
Bhutto had returned to Pakistan from an eight-year exile on Oct 18. Her homecoming parade in Karachi was also targeted by a suicide attacker, killing more than 140 people. On that occasion she narrowly escaped injury.
Bhutto was killed just a few kilometers (miles) from the scene of her father's violent death 28 years earlier. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, a former prime minister and the founder of the party that his daughter would later lead, was executed by hanging in 1979 in Rawalpindi on charges of conspiracy to murder that supporters said was politically motivated by the then-military regime. His killing led to violent protests across the country.
As Bhutto addressed the rally Thursday, she was flanked by a massive picture of her father. Minutes later, as she drove away from the rally, the area was awash in blood.
An Associated Press reporter at the scene could see body parts and flesh scattered at the back gate of the Liaqat Bagh park where Bhutto had spoken. He counted about 20 bodies, including police, and could see many other wounded people.
Police cordoned off the street with white and red tape, and rescue workers rushed to put victims in ambulances as people wailed nearby.
The clothing of some of the victims was shredded and people put party flags over their bodies. Police caps and shoes littered the asphalt.
On Thursday, hundreds of riot police had manned security checkpoints to guard the venue. It was Bhutto's first public meeting in Rawalpindi since she came back to the country.
In November, Bhutto had also planned a rally in the city, but Musharraf forced her to cancel it, citing security fears. In recent weeks, suicide bombers have repeatedly targeted security forces in Rawalpindi, a city near the capital where Musharraf stays and the Pakistan army has its headquarters.
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