Murder of Dr. Huma and murder attempt on Mohtarma Bhutto

Islamabad 26 February 2007: The Pakistan Peoples Party has objected to the Intelligence Bureau holding the investigation into the murder of provincial minister Zilla Huma and demanded a judicial probe into the matter.

In a statement today Party’s central leader Senator Safdar Abbasi said that the PPP seriously objects to the politically motivated Intelligence Bureau holding the investigation given that the killer Sarwar also claimed that he tried to assassinate former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

The Party demands that a high level judicial inquiry be held to unearth the backers and connections of the killer Sarwar to determine whether he was acting in concert with members of Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups to intimidate women political leaders on the eve of the general elections in Pakistan, he said.

The PPP would not trust an investigation led by the intelligence bureau particularly because a retired ISI officer Brig Ejaz Shah headed it.

The PPP noted that Omar Shaikh, the man who conspired to kill the Wall Street Journal reporter Danny Pearl, had hidden in the house of this officer who was his close friend for five days. During these five days the regime was denying that Omar Shaikh was in custody. However, after Police arrested the wife and child of Omar Shaikh the latter surrendered to secure their release.

The PPP leader also recalled that in last month's bomb attack in Peshawar, according to press reports, the provincial government had disclosed that the man who planted the bomb claimed to belong to the IB. No satisfactory answer has yet been given on this question by the regime.

Given that the frontier provincial government claimed that the man who planted the bomb was an IB employee, it was hoped that the killer Sarwar would not do the same. The PPP questioned as to why the regime lacked confidence in the Punjab Police that they wanted to take the investigation away from their independent scrutiny to one in which the IB was involved.

An independent investigation was required to find out the links of the killer and it is in this context that the PPP was demanding the establishment of a high level judicial inquiry composed of at least three judges into both the murder of provincial minister Dr Huma and the murder attempt on Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto.

It may be recalled that the killer Sarwar claimed he had tried to block the election of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto through an assassination attempt during the election campaign of 1993 during a rally at Wazirabad. These details were reminiscent of the attempt made by Ramzi Yusuf to kill Mohtarma during the election campaign of 1993 at a rally at Karachi with weapons supplied by Khalid Shaikh.

Ramzi Yusuf is the man who first hit the world trade towers in New York whereas Khalid Shaikh was arrested on charges of killing Danny Pearl. The PPP wants to know that since the pattern of murder was similar whether Sarwar is also connected to Al Qaeda. It wants to know who provided him the arms in the murder attempt against Mohtarma and again against Dr. Huma.

The PPP said that Mohtarma is undeterred by the attempts by fanatics and bigots believing that God protects every individual and no one can succeed in killing a person until their time is over.

However, the PPP feels strongly on the issue because the murder of Dr Huma took place in a fortnight that saw a series of high-level crimes and attempted assassinations. On February 10, 2007, Dr. Azra sister in law of Mohtarma narrowly escaped a murder attempt by a provincial minister through his bodyguards. The regime is still giving protection to the assailants and has not yet arrested the culprits. Secondly on the same day Political Secretary to the former Prime Minister, Ms Naheed Khan was fired upon three times at three different polling stations in Karachi by coalition partners of the present regime. No one has been arrested as yet. Thirdly on February 12, PPP Information Secretary and Parliamentarian Sherry Rahman narrowly escaped from an attack by a woman with a blunt instrument aimed at her neck and head. However, the authorities have still not arrested the woman assailant and are by inference giving her protection through powerful quarters.

The PPP believes that the Taliban brought death, destruction and the ravages of war through their misconceived and illegal policies. The PPP wants to save Pakistan from the ill consequences of narrow-minded bigots, terrorists, fanatics and militants who do not seem to understand that they are conspiring to undo the second largest Muslim country through their acts of violence. PPP is determined to save Pakistan from such fanatics, militants and terrorists.

PPP calls upon every citizen of Pakistan to work in a united fashion to save Pakistan by working for tolerance, understanding and respect for every citizen irrespective of race, religion or gender as proclaimed by Islam, he said.