October 2007
SPECIAL REPORT ON OCTOBER 18, 2007
(Click Here)
Mohtarma Benazir
Bhutto Arrived in Karachi, Pakistan
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Cowardly Attack on the
Mohtarma's life and loss of innocent lives
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Video Curtsey New York Times
CEC and Federal
Council of PPP meeting on Wednesday
Islamabad October 30, 2007:
Spokesperson of the PPP has issued the following statement today.
A joint meeting of the Central Executive and Federal Council of the Pakistan
Peoples Party has been convened on Wednesday October 31.
The meeting, to be presided over by the Party Chairperson Mohtarma Benazir
Bhutto, will be held at Bilawal House in Karachi.
The meeting will discuss the current political situation in the country.
PPP gravely concerned
over non registration of FIR
Reiterates demand for international investigations in October 19 bombing
Islamabad October
28, 2007: Pakistan Peoples Party has expressed grave concern over
the regime's reluctance to register the FIR of Mohtarma Bhutto demanding
investigations in the October 19 bombing of her rally and proceeding against
the suspects.
"The unwillingness of the regime to investigate such a high profile case in
which 140 people were killed and hundreds injured was most puzzling and
raised many questions", said spokesperson of the Party in a statement today.
He asked the regime to answer the following questions:
1. Why the crime scene was not secured to protect crucial evidence from
being destroyed?
2. Why the inquiry was entrusted to a police officer under whose watch
Senator Asif Zardari was tortured and nearly killed?
3. Why there is deafening silence to explain the street lights going off on
Shara e Faisal that facilitated the attack?
4. Why the government/SHO lodged the FIR without even recording the
statement of any one of the persons on the truck that was the target of the
attack?
5. Why an orchestrated campaign was launched soon thereafter to make it
appear as suicide attack without credible evidence? Was it intended to
mislead investigations?
He said that last week the UN SC in a unanimous statement demanded thorough
investigations and called upon the international community to assist in it.
Why the regime is averse to hiring international technical and forensic
experts to assist in investigations?
The regime has spent millions from public exchequer on political witch
hunting and hounding Mohtarma Bhutto from city to city, court to court and
from country to country. Why cannot it hire international experts for a
fraction of the cost to investigate the murder of 140 people?
The regime did not hire international forensic experts for probing the stock
exchange until the crucial evidence had been deleted from the computers. Is
it waiting for the destruction of crucial evidence in October 19 bombing
before soliciting the help of foreign technical experts?
Mohtarma Bhutto
felicitates Aitzaz Ahsan
Islamabad October
28, 2007: Former Prime Minister and Chairperson of the Pakistan
Peoples Party Mohtarma Benazir has felicitated Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan on his
election as President of the Supreme Court Bar Association.
PPPP MNA Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan received 1,039 votes as against the rival
candidate who secured 172 votes in the election held Saturday.
In her message of felicitation Mohtarma Bhutto said that she was happy that
Aitzaz Ahsan had won to continue struggle for constitutionalism and rule of
law from the platform of the Bar in addition to the platform of the Party.
Mohtarma Bhutto also felicitated the Peoples Lawyers' Forum whose support
enabled Barrister Aitzaz to win by a huge margin.
Can Bhutto Survive?
By Robert D. Novak - October 29, 2007
Benazir Bhutto, back in Pakistan following
eight years in exile, had plans to tour the country seeking voter support.
But she is holed up in Karachi after the near-miss attempt on her life. The
government has declined to provide the former prime minister minimal
security against renewed assassination attempts. That points up the
difficulty of a shadowy new partnership between Bhutto and Gen. Pervez
Musharraf, who was reelected president by Pakistan's electoral college on
Oct. 6.
Arbab Rahim, chief minister of Sindh province, which includes Karachi, has
refused Bhutto special police protection, cars with tinted windows and
bomb-jamming equipment. For weeks before her return, Bhutto was denied
jammers against improvised explosive devices and additional armor on her
vehicles. But a telephone call from the Pakistani president to Rahim, one of
his lieutenants, surely could have given Bhutto the protection she desired.
So, who wants to kill Benazir Bhutto? Not Musharraf, who is astute enough to
know that his complicity in her death would be devastating for him
politically. Yet he has not been forthcoming in investigating the Oct. 18
bombing in Karachi or preventing its recurrence. That provides a dilemma for
President Bush. While his administration depicts the enigmatic Musharraf as
a faithful fighter of terrorism, it recognizes that Bhutto as prime minister
would be unequivocally against Islamic extremism.
Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, which do not want Bhutto to lead Pakistan's
government a third time, were behind the suicide bombing but do not appear
to have acted alone. In addition to the bombing, which took 140 lives,
snipers fired on her convoy, a fact that was not publicized. Not al-Qaeda's
style, that tactic points to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI),
or at least to rogue elements within it. Musharraf, though still military
commander, does not exercise complete control over the ISI, which is
considered a state within a state and gave birth to the Taliban in
Afghanistan.
It is difficult to identify attempted assassins because Interior Minister
Aftab Khan Sherpao said he would "categorically reject" help from
world-class FBI forensic investigators. Sherpao once was a leader of
Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP), but he changed sides in return for
being absolved of Musharraf's criminal charges against him. More than 10
days after the bombing, it is too late for forensic evidence.
Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, the leader of Musharraf's Pakistan Muslim League,
said last week that Bhutto and her husband arranged the attack to generate
public sympathy. That Bhutto was unhurt, he claimed, lends credence to that
theory (though she actually was spared because her vehicle was elevated to
permit crowds to see her).
The government has banned mass meetings, purportedly in the interest of
public safety. But prohibiting political rallies saves the Muslim League
from an embarrassing exhibition of its scant public support and perhaps
could enable a rigging of parliamentary elections to prevent a major PPP
victory. Bhutto will campaign anyway and is planning a trip to Islamabad.
Bhutto's security experts think she is safer in Islamabad than in Karachi
and say she can be protected there. Still, one adviser has warned her that
Karachi-style attacks will resume in Islamabad. When I interviewed Bhutto in
New York in August, I asked whether she thought she might be killed if she
returned to Pakistan. She answered by saying that she had to return. She
gives the impression that being in danger is her fate.
Musharraf must know that Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos sealed his
political doom in 1983 when his associates conspired to murder political
rival Benigno Acquino upon his return from exile. Without complicity in the
assassination attempt, however, Musharraf has permitted subordinates to take
a hostile stance toward Bhutto the past two weeks. He actually needs Bhutto,
because of her popularity with the people, just as she needs him to
neutralize the army.
On Thursday, a week after she was nearly killed, Bhutto assailed the Islamic
schools in Pakistan that are breeding grounds for terrorism. "These
political madrassas preach hatred and churn out brainwashed robots that
become arsenals of weapons of violating the constitution of Pakistan," she
said. Musharraf has never dared to say anything like that. But the U.S.
government, as matchmaker between Bhutto and Musharraf, is cautious about
publicly taking sides in Pakistan's crisis.
PPP Dismisses Sindh
CM's Actions as Rooted in Fear of Genuine Democracy.
Islamabad, October
29, 2007: The Pakistan Peoples Party dismissed Arbab Ghulam
Rahim's vain efforts to discredit the Party and said that in his bid to get
even with the nation's biggest political Party, the Sindh CM is only
exposing his own fears of democratic forces.
The Sindh Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim is known for his desperation to
settle scores with his opponents. He used extensive state resources to
victimise his political rivals in 2005. He also attempted to get even with
the Chief Justice of Pakistan who had taken note of human rights violations
committed by him. His remarks against women in leadership positions exposes
his deep prejudice against half the country's population, whom as CM he
should be offering protection instead of state sponsored abuse.
Taken aback by the overwhelming public support for the Peoples Party – just
as the country is bracing for general elections – Rahim is desperately
running from pillar to post to discredit the Pakistan Peoples Party. He
recently ordered tearing down of the PPP hoardings on the main arteries of
the Karachi city even though the Party has paid for the billboards.
"By levelling baseless allegations against the PPP, tearing down our Party's
hoardings and posters and issuing senseless statements in the media, Arbab
Ghulam Rahim is just showing his own insecurities in the face of a genuine
democratic challenge," said Sherry Rehman, Central Information Secretary
Pakistan Peoples Party.
"His attitude and remarks about the Oct 18 investigation are not only
irresponsible, they are obstructive. Not only was forensic evidence quickly
removed from the spot of the blasts but the provincial government has done
nothing to organise a DNA test to identify the 16 victims whose bodies have
been severely damaged because of the blasts. Instead of providing Mohtarma
Benazir Bhutto with better protection, and constructive movement on the
investigation, her posters are being defaced and ripped apart. In an
election year, this only adds to tensions and lack of confidence in the
provincial authorities," said Rehman.
Bhutto visits bomb
blast victims
Larkana, October
28 2007: Pakistan - Benazir Bhutto visited victims of the
devastating October 18 suicide blasts on Sunday, as the former Pakistan
premier kept up a tightly secured trip to her ancestral home.
Bhutto also vowed to step up the fight against militants blamed for the twin
attacks in Karachi on her homecoming parade, saying she feared extremism was
gathering force in areas of the military-ruled nation.
"I am very concerned about what is happening in my country. I always
believed that dictatorship fuels militancy and extremism," Bhutto, a
two-time premier, told reporters late Sunday.
"I feel sad that for the last five years we were not able to address this
problem and to stop this from spreading."
Security guards armed with machine guns surrounded Bhutto as she toured her
family district in southern rural Pakistan, her first trip outside of
Karachi since the bombings that targeted the two-time premier and killed 139
people.
Bhutto, the first female leader of an Islamic nation, made a jubilant return
Saturday to Larkana district, thousands of supporters cheering her arrival
in a bullet-proof jeep overland from Sukkur city where she flew in from
Karachi.
The mood was more sombre on Sunday as Bhutto called on a bereaved family who
lost their 22-year-old son in the blasts to offer prayers, before moving on
to the home of a party worker injured in the attacks.
Thousands from the party faithful, including from Larkana district, had made
long journeys to Karachi to take part in her homecoming parade.
"I have come to condole the martyrdom of a brave and innocent boy of 22
years who lost his life in the movement to save democracy," Bhutto wrote in
a condolence book on the verandah of the family's two-room mud house.
Hundreds of people climbed onto rooftops and gathered in lanes of an
impoverished neighbourhood in Larkana town to try to catch a glimpse of
Bhutto.
Others chanted "Jiye Bhutto (Long live Bhutto)" as guards and paramilitary
officers surrounded the houses and kept supporters at bay.
Bhutto has vowed to stay in Pakistan despite the bombings and lead her party
in general elections, which are seen as a key step in the nation's return to
democracy after eights years of military rule by President Pervez Musharraf.
The attacks on her homecoming procession in Karachi happened just hours
after Bhutto set foot on Pakistani soil for the first time since 1999 and
ruined her planned triumphant return to contest the polls set for January.
Bhutto was granted an amnesty by Musharraf on corruption charges earlier
this month, paving the way for her return and a possible power-sharing pact
with the general, who seized power in a 1999 coup.
The future of the pact is unclear in the wake of the blasts amid tensions
between Bhutto's and Musharraf's parties over who should be held
responsible.
Bhutto said Sunday there were no plans as yet to meet with Musharraf.
"I see the election of 2007 as a political turning point in the history of
Pakistan. It is essential that power is transferred from dictatorship in a
smooth manner," she added.
The United States and Britain have been quietly pushing the pact as the best
chance of fighting Islamic extremism and for political stability in the
nation of 160 million people.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, the worst in the
nation's history, with Bhutto alleging a link to rogue elements in the
establishment and a pro-Taliban militant denying his involvement.
Benazir asks
terrorists to lay down arms
By M.B. Kalhoro
LARKANA, Oct 28:
PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto has asked terrorists to lay down their arms,
and start respecting the Constitution.
Addressing a press conference at the residence of MPA Haji Munawar Ali
Abbasi and Senator Dr Safdar Abbasi in Waleed village on Sunday, she said
that time had come for abandoning the politics of arms.
She said that Pakistan was a land of peace and everyone should respect the
Constitution.
Ms Bhutto said her party was holding talks with the government for
restoration of democracy. “We must carve out a middle path by adhering to
(democratic) principles.”
Urging all political parties to play their role for strengthening the
positive political culture, she said that while the PPP was not in the All
Parties Democratic Movement (APDM), it wanted all political parties to unite
for a common cause. She said that it was important for political parties to
wage a joint struggle against dictatorship and learn lessons from the past
to strengthen democracy and address key problems of the people.
Criticising social fragmentation, she said targeting of one group by another
did not serve the interest of Pakistan which occupied a key position in the
Muslim world.
She said that US aid had not benefited the people in the absence of an
elected democratic government, adding that the people were still struggling
against poverty and unemployment.
She said that crisis were hallmarks of dictatorships in Pakistan.
Terming PPP a symbol of Pakistan’s federation, Ms Bhuto said her party
firmly believed in democracy because it was the only weapon strong enough to
save the country.
Referring to October 18 Karachi rally, she said that people had come to
welcome her not only from the four provinces but also from Kashmir and the
Northern Areas.
She said that the PPP had always adhered to principles. “We are here to
protect people’s rights and not for power or plots.”
Calling upon the government to free all political workers detained in
Balochistan, she said that area-wise the largest province of the country
should be made part of the mainstream.
Cautioning against the use of the country’s soil against neighbouring
countries, she said that such actions might lead to grave repercussions.
PPP struggling for
rights of poor: Benazir
By By Mukesh Ropeta
LARKANA
10/29/2007: Pakistan People’s Party Chairperson Benazir Bhutto
has said her return has brought a change in Pakistan and the PPP is
spreading the message of development and welfare of people.
Talking to newsmen at the residence of Senator Dr Safdar Ali Abbasi in
Waleed village on Sunday, Benazir said she is waging a struggle not for her
or the PPP, but for the poor people of Pakistan.
Benazir said that a large number of people from all over the country had
arrived in Karachi on October 18 to give a rousing welcome to their sister
(Benazir). She called for waging joint struggle by all political parties for
restoration of democracy and curbing militancy in Pakistan.
The PPP chairperson said: “We should work hard for the restoration of true
democracy in the country,” adding “we should see towards future instead of
past.”
“We believe in the agenda of our founder leader (Zulfikar Ali Bhutto), which
was also the agenda of the Father of the Nation, Quaid-i-Azam," she added.
“The objective of our politics is to serve people besides protecting the
interests of the country,” she added.
Curbing terrorism and militancy is essential for the progress of any country
besides promotion of democracy, she said, adding this is possible only
through the empowerment of people on the same pattern propagated by the
Quaid-i-Azam and the Quaid-i-Awam.
Earlier, Benazir visited the residence of Sardar Aamir Ali Bhutto in Larkana
city to condole the death of his mother and elder brother Sardar Wahid
Bukhsh Bhutto. Benazir stayed there for sometime and condoled with Sardar
Aamir and other members of his family.
She prayed to Almighty Allah to rest the departed soul in eternal peace and
grant courage to the bereaved family to bear this loss.
Meanwhile, Benazir visited the residence of Shakoor Ahmed Shaikh in Larkana
city and condoled the demise of his father Dr Rohsan Ali Shaikh.
She offered Fateha and prayed to Almighty Allah to rest the departed soul in
eternal peace.
Separately, Benazir visited the residence of Karachi bomb blasts victim
Nizamuddin Samo and sympathised with Ashraf Samoo (uncle), mother and other
relatives of the deceased and prayed to Almighty Allah to rest the departed
soul in eternal peace and grant courage to the bereaved family to bear this
loss. Benazir paid rich tributes to Nizamuddin, who lost his live on October
18 Karachi blasts.
She said the sacrifices of the party workers will always be remembered.
Benazir also visited the residence of PPP Larkana chief Aftab Ahmed Bhutto
and offered condolence on the demise of his father Nek Muhammad Bhutto. She
offered Fateha for the departed soul.
Also, Benazir visited the house of Ghulam Mujtaba Isran, President PPP
Kamber-Shahdadkot, and expressed condolence over the death of his wife. She
prayed to Almighty Allah to rest the departed soul in eternal peace.
PPP Sindh chief Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Nisar Khuhro, Aftab Shabaan Mirani,
Naheed Khan, Haji Munawwer Ali Abbasi and other party leaders were also
present on the occasion. A large number of people chanted "Jeay Bhutto” and
“Jeay Benazir” slogans and showered rose petals when she visited the Larkana
city.
PPP has delivered
message of development and people’s welfare: Benazir
LARKANA, Oct 28:
Chairperson PPP Benazir Bhutto has said that her return to the
country has brought a change in Pakistan while her party has conveyed a
message of country’s development and welfare of the people.She said this
while talking to mediapersons here at the residence of Senator Dr. Safdar
Ali Abbasi and MPA Haji Munawwar Ali Abbasi, at Waleed village, on Sunday
evening.
Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto said the struggle in the country was
not neither for Benazir nor PPP but it was for the people.
Benazir Bhutto said on October 18, on her return to the country, the people
came to Karachi from all over the country, including Northern Areas as well
as Azad Kashmir, to welcome their sister.
She said people flocked to the city on her return, who, she said were joined
by people from every corner of Pakistan, as a symbol of federation.
She called for joint struggle by all political parties in the country for
democracy and against militancy besides pointing out the people, who were
providing training for it.
PPP Chairperson was of the view that we need democracy to save the country
and for the betterment of the country as we should ponder on future instead
of the past.
We believe in the agenda of our founder leader which was also the agenda of
the Father of the Nation, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah,” she maintained.
Benazir Bhutto said the objective of our politics is to serve the people and
work towards defense and protection of the country.
She said rooting out terrorism and militancy is essential for the progress
of any country and for promotion of democracy. This could be possible only
through the empowerment of people on the same pattern as propagated by the
Quaid-i-Azam and the Quaid-i-Awam.
‘PPP ready for more
sacrifice for democracy’
LAHORE:
The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) will not hesitate to render any sacrifice
for the cause of democracy and elimination of dictatorship and those killed
in Karachi blasts will be remembered in the country’s history as martyrs,
speakers said at a condolence conference held at the Lahore Press Club on
Sunday.
All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA) organised the conference in memory
of people killed in the Karachi blasts.
‘PPP and minorities are one’: PPP central general secretary Jehangir Badr
said minorities were an integral part of the party that could not be
separated. He said members from minority communities had sacrificed their
lives to save PPP chairwoman Benazir Bhutto’s life. He said the PPP would
safeguard rights of minorities after coming in power.
He said the Karachi blasts were aimed at killing the entire leadership of
the party, so that no one could speak out about democracy.
‘Coming generations cannot be left at the mercy of terrorists’: Punjab
Opposition leader Qasim Zia said the PPP could not leave the coming
generations at the mercy of terrorists. He said PPP workers and leaders
never hesitated to render any sacrifice for democracy. He said Benazir had
returned to the country with a clear message to terrorists that they would
not be tolerated anymore in Pakistan. “Chaudhries have given rise to
terrorism, unemployment and lawlessness in the last five years,” he said.
“How could they face public with this performance,” he asked.
‘BB’s return meant to end of extremism’: Former foreign minister Sardar Asif
Ahmed Ali said the return of Benazir was to eliminate terrorism from the
country and that the blasts were aimed at sabotaging her mission. PPP
(Lahore) president Haji Azizur Rehman Chan said that after Benazir’s return
extremists had no place in society.
ARD leader Munir Ahmed Khan said the PPP was proud of working for the rights
of minorities and that it was the only party that could safeguard the rights
of minorities He said the blasts were aimed at stopping Benazir from leading
the people, but such incidents could not stop her from fulfilling the
mission of Zulifiqar Ali Bhutto.
He said that after November 15 the Chaudhris would be off the horizon. He
said that after the elections Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam would be
nowhere in the country. PPP central leader Malik Mushtaq Awan said Benazir
was not power-hungry, but she had returned for democracy and for the rights
of people. “The solidarity of the country is with Benazir Bhutto and
anything wrong to her will endanger the federation,” he added.
‘Blood of Karachi martyrs will not go waste’: Punjab PPP secretary
information Farzana Raja has said the blood of those martyred in Karachi
would not be wasted.
M Prakash, a Hindu APMA representative from Sindh, said the blasts were
aimed to damage the solidarity of the country. He said that an independent
caretaker government should be established to conduct elections.
APMA chairman Shahbaz Bhatti said the alliance’s workers would not hesitate
to render any sacrifice for the cause of democracy in the country. He said
APMA paid tributes to those died in the Karachi blasts. “Benazir will lead
the final war against anti-democratic forces,” he added. Pir Naubahar Shah,
MPAs Najmi Saleemi, Azma Bokhari, Faiza Malik, Solidarity Front leader
Naveed Malik and Munir Gillani addressed the gathering.
Bhutto requests car
convoy for security
KARACHI October
27, 2007: Former Pakistan premier Benazir Bhutto said Thursday
she asked the government for permission to travel in a convoy of cars with
tinted windows in the wake of last week's devastating suicide blasts.
Bhutto has been surrounded by heavily armed guards since the attacks tore
through her homecoming parade in Karachi city killing 139 people and ruining
her triumphant return after eight years in self-imposed exile.
She has vowed to stay in Pakistan to campaign for upcoming general polls,
which are seen as a key step in the country's return to democracy after
eight years of military rule by President Pervez Musharraf.
Amid ongoing fears for her safety, Bhutto told CNN that she wanted the
government to provide some "basic security" in the runup to the January
polls.
"For example, I would like to travel in a convoy of cars with tinted windows
so the assassins can't identify where I'm sitting.
"The government still hasn't given me permission to do that," Bhutto, the
first female leader of an Islamic nation, told the network.
"I am not satisfied with the security provided to me. I should be made to
feel secure, I should not be made to feel insecure," she later told
reporters at a press conference.
The two-time premier has claimed in the wake of the carnage that the
security forces and government have been infiltrated by Islamic militants.
She repeated her calls Thursday for an independent investigation into the
blasts and for overseas expertise to track down those responsible.
"We take financial help and political help from abroad, why can't we take
help from technical experts for this investigation?" she told reporters.
The government has rejected the request, saying local investigators are
capable of arresting those behind the nation's worst attacks.
Bhutto's comments come as she recovers from the flu in Karachi and prepares
to visit her ancestral home of Larkana in a remote corner of southern
Pakistan to pay her respects to the family mausoleum.
"She will visit Larkana on October 27th," her Pakistan People's Party
central information secretary Sherry Rehman said.
Massive security preparations have been underway for her visit to the
mausoleum where the tomb of her father, the late prime minister Zulfiqar Ali
Bhutto, is located.
Meanwhile, a new top police officer took over the probe Thursday into the
blasts after Bhutto accused the former chief of bias, leading him to step
down.
Bhutto claimed the former head was involved in the torture of her husband
while he was in police custody in 1999.
"Senior police officer Saud Mirza is the new head of the investigation team
probing the twin attacks," Sindh home secretary Ghulam Muhammad Mohtarram
told AFP, adding that he was the head of criminal investigations in Karachi.
Sixteen people were also being interviewed over the blasts although they are
not considered suspects, an officer said.
The October 18 blasts occurred in a crowd of hundreds of thousands of Bhutto
supporters just hours after she returned to Pakistan for the first time
since 1999.
She was cleared of graft charges by Musharraf earlier this month, paving the
way for her return and a possible power-sharing pact with the general.
But the future of the pact is uncertain after the blasts and amid tensions
between their parties over who should be held responsible for the carnage.
Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup, is under pressure from the US, a
key ally, to reach the deal, which could shore up the popularity of his
government after months of political turmoil.
THREAT TO BENAZIR
By Asim Yasin
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairperson
Benazir Bhutto’s legal adviser Senator Farooq Naek has requested Chief
Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to take suo moto notice of a letter sent
to him by unidentified al-Qaeda operatives threatening to assassinate the
former prime minister.
In a letter written to the chief justice, Naek said that Benazir Bhutto
returned to Pakistan on October 18, and a suicide bomber, aiming to
assassinate her, attacked the ‘Caravan of Democracy’ she was leading. As
many as 140 people were killed and about 500 were injured.
He wrote that on October 23, when he went to the Rawalpindi Accountability
Court to attend proceedings in cases concerning Benazir Bhutto, he came to
know that National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Deputy Prosecutor General
Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta has not returned from the Supreme Court where he had
gone to obtain a copy of the interim order passed by the apex court in
petitions challenging the National Reconciliation Order 2007 (NRO).
“Upon this, I telephoned Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta, who informed me that he has
not been able to obtain the certified copy of the order and returning
without it,” he said.
Naek said “Bhutta also informed me that there are two letters in my name
lying in the Bar Room and asked my permission if he can bring them to me to
which I replied in affirmative.” He stated that a letter contained photostat
copies that were of no consequence, however, the other letter contained a
handwritten two-page note. “A perusal thereof revealed that it was written
by the “Head of Suicide Bombers and a Friend of Osama bin Laden and
al-Qaeda.”
He said that the letter contained derogatory and threatening remarks against
Benazir Bhutto and great emphasis was laid on her assassination with the
help of a knife.
Senator Naek stated that the fact that letter sent to him also implies
threat to his life being the legal adviser of Benazir Bhutto.
He stated that extremism and violence are the biggest challenges facing
Pakistan and it is time the state takes this threat seriously. “The state of
Pakistan needs to come clean and comprehensive strategy needs to be evolved
to rein in thoughts and actions of extremists and terrorists,” he stated.
He said that the Constitution, in clear terms, guarantees that the dignity
of a person shall be inviolable and that no person shall be deprived of life
or liberty.
“It is the duty of state functionaries to provide security to all citizens
of Pakistan so Benazir Bhutto and myself are entitled to protection of law
as a constitutional right and which includes enjoyment of all such
facilities which are necessary to protect safety and dignity of a person,”
he said.
PPP rejects Shaikh
Rashid remarks justifying October 18 attack
Islamabad October
24, 2007: The Pakistan Peoples Party has rejected the Federal
Railways Minister's statement justifying the October 18 attack on the
innocent PPP workers.
Shaikh Rashid said in Karachi that the attack on PPP rally was because the
PPP was following 'an imperialistic agenda'. By this he meant that PPP was
against terrorists who benefited from dictatorship.
In a statement today PPP leader raja Pervez Ashraf said that Shaikh Rashid
had served in two military dictatorships which had given the nation the
klashinkov culture and suicide bombers and made miserable the life of
working classes, middle classes, old, young women and the minorities
miserable.
The PPP leader said that the Party's agenda was to serve the masses by
saving democracy. Fighting for peace and democracy was apro-Islam and pro-
democracy agenda, he said.
The PPP leader noted that the international community had supported both the
dictatorships of Zia and Musharraf yet Shaikh Rashid had never justified
suicide attacks on its cabinet members on the ground that these were
'imperialist backed policies'.
Now that the international community was supporting democracy in Afghanistan
and fair elections in Pakistan Sheikh Rashid was suddenly justifying suicide
attacks. He said that terrorism acts are criminal and cannot be justified.
The PPP supported moderates within the PML Q but asked General Musharraf to
be cautious of those in the cabinet who had defended suicide attacks and
were now trying to justify terrorist attacks of Oct 18. He said that such
elements who justified suicide attacks and act of terrorism were
facilitating an anti people, anti democracy and anti Islamic agenda to
exploit the people but they could not succeed because the people of Pakistan
would defeat them.
Raja Pervez Ashraf said that Shaikh Rashid's remarks were a perverted logic
as it amounted to saying that anyone opposing militancy will be faced with
such attacks in the future as well.
Benazir Bhutto formally demands international assistance
Addresses letter to Interior Secretary with copies to Gen Musharraf and UN
Security Council
Islamabad, October 26, 2007: Former Prime Minister and Chairperson Pakistan
Peoples Party Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto today formally asked the government of
Pakistan through a letter asking it to request assistance from the US and
the Britain in carrying out investigations in the October 19 bombing of her
rally.
In the letter sent today to the Interior Secretary the former prime minister
said that the PPP "asks you to immediately assist the poorly equipped
Pakistan Police investigation with the sophisticated technology and
scientific techniques available to Scotland Yard and FBI to assist in the
investigation and bring the culprits to book."
It is important for the unity of integrity of Pakistan that the terrorists
be apprehended and brought to justice, she said.
She reminded that the UN Security Council on October 22 in a unanimous
resolution has spoken of the need to "bring perpetrators, organizers,
financiers and sponsors of this reprehensible act of terrorism to justice"
and urged all states to cooperate actively with the Pakistani authorities in
this regard.
Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto said that Home office (Sindh) has sent her letters
which made her feel more vulnerable to terrorist attacks.
Instead of relaxing the ban on tinted windows and the ban on display of
public weapons they had asked her to travel in transparent windows and asked
her not to protect herself in public with privately armed guards. She
demanded the government to review these decisions.
Highlighting the threats to herself she said On October 23, 2007, the
terrorists and their hidden supporters sent another threat to her.
In it the terrorists threatened to slaughter both Mr. Naek and herself in
the same manner as goats are slaughtered, she wrote in her letter to the
Interior Secretary.
Reminding the government that the deaths of Liaquat Ali Khan, Gen Zia, Gen
Asif Nawaz and Mir Murtaza Bhutto had been never been properly resolved
because of poor investigations, Mohtarma Bhutto said that the terrorists had
been emboldened by Pakistani investigators who lacked scientific and
forensic means to crack the case and bring the terrorists to justice.
She said she was confident that the required expertise would be invited on
an emergency basis, given the enormity of the crime, the loss of lives
incurred and the direct threat to her life.
Copies of the letter were also endorsed to Gen Pervez Musharraf, UN Security
Council, Chief Justice of Pakistan and Chief Justice of Sindh High Court.
Following is the text of her letter:
To,
The Secretary Interior
Government of Pakistan
Islamabad
Subject: International Experts for Bhutto Targeted Terrorist Attack
The terrorist bomb attacks on October 19, 2007 at 12:06 hours that resulted
in the mass murder of 140 innocent citizens and injuries to over 500 people
was a direct assassination attempt on me (the former Prime Minister of
Pakistan).
This dastardly attack was facilitated by the darkened streets of Shahra-e-Faisal
where all the lights were shut off.
Before my arrival in Pakistan, I had informed General Musharraf of the
threat to my life.
The procession of over 3 million people was heading from the Airport to
Mazar-e-Quaid and our security could not see the attackers due to the
darkness.
An FIR was lodged at the Bahadurabad Police Station within 3 hours of the
incident. This should not have been lodged without taking information from
me or the PPP leadership who were on the truck targeted with me. An
application was submitted for registration of an authenticated FIR and is
pending decision with police officials for this terrible terrorist crime.
Home office (Sindh) has sent me letters which make me feel more vulnerable
to terrorist attacks. Instead of relaxing the ban on tinted windows and the
ban on display of public weapons they have asked me to travel in transparent
windows (where assassins can easily spot me) and asked me not to protect
myself in public with privately armed guards. Could the government review
these decisions that not only make me feel more vulnerable to attack but by
their nature make me as concerned as the darkened lights on Shahra-e-Faisal
helped attackers.
The terrorist attack was an attempt to derail the democratic process.
Several terrorist attacks, including the Islamabad Bomb attacks of July 17,
2007 attack during Chief Justices visit to Karachi on May 12, attack on
Sunni Tehrik leaders, on Aabpara market have remained unsolved.
The terrorists have been emboldened by the inability of Pakistani
investigators, who lack scientific and forensic means, to crack the case and
bring the terrorists to justice.
To ensure terrorists do not dictate the agenda by disrupting the forthcoming
election campaign the real culprits behind the terrorist attack must be
apprehended immediately.
Therefore on behalf of the Pakistan Peoples Party, I propose the Government
of Pakistan have the Pakistan led Police inquiry assisted by either the FBI
or Scotland Yard which have the latest scientific and technological means to
investigate terrorist crimes.
The United Nations Security Council on October 22, 2007, in a unanimous
resolution spoke of 'the need to bring perpetrators, organisers, financiers
and sponsors of this reprehensible act of terrorism to justice' and urged
all states to 'cooperate actively with the Pakistani authorities in this
regard'.
On October 23, 2007, the terrorists and their hidden supporters sent another
threat to me. A letter was delivered to the Supreme Court Bar and given to
National Accountability Bureau Deputy Prosecutor who gave it to my defence
council Farooq Naek. In it the terrorists threatened to slaughter both Mr.
Naek and myself in the same manner as goats are slaughtered.
These unislamic terrorists are waging war on the people of Pakistan
including the armed forces. They think they can move with impunity because
their organisers, sponsors and financers think they won't get caught.
It is important for the unity and integrity of Pakistan as well as for the
right of life, liberty, property and pursuit of happiness of our people that
the terrorist be apprehended and brought to justice.
It is in this spirit that Pakistan Peoples Party asks you to immediately
assist the poorly equipped Pakistan Police investigation with the
sophisticated technology and scientific techniques available to Scotland
Yard and FBI to assist in the investigation and bring the culprits to book.
We urge you to quickly request the assistance of investigators
from US and Britain.
We may remind you that the deaths of Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan,
General Zia-ul-Haq, General Asif Nawaz and Mir Murtaza Bhutto MPA, have
never been properly resolved because of poor investigation.
Bearing the above facts in mind, it is imperative that international
expertise in scientific, forensic and technical fields, be sought, to assist
the Pakistan based inquiry into the bomb blasts.
I am confident that the required expertise will be invited on an emergency
basis, given the enormity of the crime, the loss of lives incurred, and the
direct threat to my life.
Sincerely,
(Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto)
C.C: General Pervez Musharraf
- United Nations Security Council
- Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Pakistan
- Chief Justice High Court of Sindh
PPP calls upon regime to hold inquiry to clear names of suspects
Islamabad October 25, 2007: The PPP has rejected tclaims made in a
section of the press that naming of Intelligence Bureau Chief Ijaz Shah by
the PPP would complicate the PPP relations with the presidency.
In a statement today a spokesperson of the Party said that the victim has
the right to nominate the suspects who would want to kill to eliminate.
He said that if the suspect is innocent the regime should hasten to clear
the atmosphere by holding an inquiry as asked for by the PPP where the
Pakistan led inquiry is assisted by the scientific and forensic evidence
available with Washington and London for tracing the organizers, financiers
and sponsors of terrorism and their perpetrators, he said.
The Pakistan investigation is so poor that they still cannot make up their
minds whether it is a suicide bomber, a car bomb or a grenade. Meantime
evidence is deteriorating.
Minister of Railways has insinuated that fighting terrorism is an
imperialist agenda. If this is so then the agenda of the Musharraf regime is
unclear: Is it for or against militancy, he asked?
The PPP believes that militancy thrives under dictatorship and believes in
democracy and the power of the people.
He said that the regime will soon have to stop running with the hare and
hunting with the hound. It will either have to stand with the PPP and the
people in restoring democracy and eliminating militancy which thrives on
unemployment or it will have to reject the PPP and face the consequences of
being unmasked as the regime fighting terrorism.
If members of the regime named by PPP are innocent, they should be the first
to welcome an independent inquiry. The very fact that they are shying from
an inquiry is raising eyebrows.
Meantime PPP welcomes United Nations Security Council resolution calling for
a full inquiry to being the perpetrators, sponsors, organizers and
financiers of the operation to justice.
PPP is determined to give the awam roti, kapra and makaan by making Pakistan
violence free and calls upon the militants to lay down their arms instead of
being exploited by narco barons and arms smugglers whose greed is hurting
the image of Islam as well as taking Pakistan towards aggression and
disintegration.
US Senator John Kerry telephones Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto
ISLAMABAD October 25, 2007: US Senator John Kerry telephoned Mohtarma
Benazir Bhutto today and condemned the attack on her rally and inquired
about her welfare.
John Kerry also condoled with the citizens who were killed in the bomb
blasts and prayed for early recovery of those injured.
The US Senator said that he was pleased that Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto had
survived the attack and was unhurt.
Benazir lashes out at ‘political madressahs
By Shamim-ur-Rahman
KARACHI, Oct 25: Pakistan People’s Party Chairperson Benazir Bhutto on
Thursday lashed out on what she described as political madressahs which, she
said, had “become arsenal of weapons and retreat for militants”.
“We need to investigate everything in madressahs,” she said, adding that her
party had no problem with the real madressahs. “They are part of our
civilisation and part of our culture and religion.” But there were others,
wolves in sheep’s clothing, who would take the name of madressah and work
against Islam, she said.The PPP chief was talking to media personnel at her
Bilawal House residence. Answering a question about religious extremism and
the role of madressahs, she said there are two types of such institutions –
Deeni madressah and political madressah.The political madressahs, she said,
sprung up with lots of funding and they did ‘more than brainwashing’.
She called for reconstituting the organisations of the madressahs and
revisiting their curriculum to spread the real message of Islam and the
message of co-existence.
“These political madressahs preach hatred and churn out brainwashed robots
that become arsenal of weapons of violating the Constitution of Pakistan,”
she said, adding that if the PPP government was formed, she would expect
everybody follow the Constitution, to be disarmed and to be regulated and to
teach what is truly Islamic. And if anybody disagrees that will be shut
down.
Ms Bhutto also emphasised the need for documenting every madressah student
so that their activities were monitored.
She said there were organisations and people who were “set up as goats for
slaughter but the hidden hands are not exposed”.
“That is why I am saying don’t just look at the perpetrators, but look at
the forces behind them. Let us find the financers, and the organisers,” she
said.
Referring to terrorist threats to her life, Ms Bhutto said she was taking
precautionary measures of her own to ‘deceive’ the terrorists. The
government, she said, had advised her not to use car with tinted glasses and
her own armed guards.She said that she was unable to understand why instead
of relaxing the rules in this regard and enabling her to have maximum
security, to her satisfaction, the authorities were advising against the
precautionary measures she was taking to protect herself. “Why do they want
the terrorists to know about my movement?”
Ms Bhutto said a big hand freely worked from Karakoram to the Arabian Sea
and that must be unveiled. She said that tribal areas were no man’s land and
narco-business there remained unchecked. She said that weapons business also
patronised terrorists.
Answering a question, she disclosed that she had written a letter to the
interior secretary and asked him to beef up her security.
She said that President Pervez Musharraf and the Sindh High Court had
assured her of full security, but the Sindh government had not complied with
the orders.
The PPP chairperson said that President Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat
Aziz had been attacked by extremists and suicide bombers and “it remains a
point that federal minister Ijaz-ul-Haq or PML-Q president Chaudhry Shujaat
were never attacked by suicide bombers”. She, however, made it clear that
she never meant that they or anyone else should be attacked by the
terrorists.
She was surprised by a statement of a federal minister who said that the
ground reality had changed after the suicide attacks on her rally. “What did
he mean? Do such statements help reconciliation? If they want democracy,
moderate Pakistan, they should condemn terrorists and not the PPP,” she
said.
Asked about the draft code of conduct as suggested by the government, Ms
Bhutto declared that no unilateral measures would be accepted and stressed
that all parties must be consulted and they must all agree to it.
Bhutto requests car convoy for security
Former Pakistan premier Benazir Bhutto said Thursday she asked the
government for permission to travel in a convoy of cars with tinted windows
in the wake of last week's devastating suicide blasts.
Bhutto has been surrounded by heavily armed guards since the attacks tore
through her homecoming parade in Karachi city killing 139 people and ruining
her triumphant return after eight years in self-imposed exile.
She has vowed to stay in Pakistan to campaign for upcoming general polls,
which are seen as a key step in the country's return to democracy after
eight years of military rule by President Pervez Musharraf.
Amid ongoing fears for her safety, Bhutto told CNN that she wanted the
government to provide some "basic security" in the runup to the January
polls.
"For example, I would like to travel in a convoy of cars with tinted windows
so the assassins can't identify where I'm sitting.
"The government still hasn't given me permission to do that," Bhutto, the
first female leader of an Islamic nation, told the network.
"I am not satisfied with the security provided to me. I should be made to
feel secure, I should not be made to feel insecure," she later told
reporters at a press conference.
The two-time premier has claimed in the wake of the carnage that the
security forces and government have been infiltrated by Islamic militants.
She repeated her calls Thursday for an independent investigation into the
blasts and for overseas expertise to track down those responsible.
"We take financial help and political help from abroad, why can't we take
help from technical experts for this investigation?" she told reporters.
The government has rejected the request, saying local investigators are
capable of arresting those behind the nation's worst attacks.
Bhutto's comments come as she recovers from the flu in Karachi and prepares
to visit her ancestral home of Larkana in a remote corner of southern
Pakistan to pay her respects to the family mausoleum.
"She will visit Larkana on October 27th," her Pakistan People's Party
central information secretary Sherry Rehman said.
Massive security preparations have been underway for her visit to the
mausoleum where the tomb of her father, the late prime minister Zulfiqar Ali
Bhutto, is located.
Meanwhile, a new top police officer took over the probe Thursday into the
blasts after Bhutto accused the former chief of bias, leading him to step
down.
Bhutto claimed the former head was involved in the torture of her husband
while he was in police custody in 1999.
"Senior police officer Saud Mirza is the new head of the investigation team
probing the twin attacks," Sindh home secretary Ghulam Muhammad Mohtarram
told AFP, adding that he was the head of criminal investigations in Karachi.
Sixteen people were also being interviewed over the blasts although they are
not considered suspects, an officer said.
The October 18 blasts occurred in a crowd of hundreds of thousands of Bhutto
supporters just hours after she returned to Pakistan for the first time
since 1999.
She was cleared of graft charges by Musharraf earlier this month, paving the
way for her return and a possible power-sharing pact with the general.
But the future of the pact is uncertain after the blasts and amid tensions
between their parties over who should be held responsible for the carnage.
Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup, is under pressure from the US, a
key ally, to reach the deal, which could shore up the popularity of his
government after months of political turmoil.
THREAT TO BENAZIR
By Asim Yasin
October 26, 2007:
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairperson Benazir Bhutto’s
legal adviser Senator Farooq Naek has requested Chief Justice Iftikhar
Muhammad Chaudhry to take suo moto notice of a letter sent to him by
unidentified al-Qaeda operatives threatening to assassinate the former prime
minister.
In a letter written to the chief justice, Naek said that Benazir Bhutto
returned to Pakistan on October 18, and a suicide bomber, aiming to
assassinate her, attacked the ‘Caravan of Democracy’ she was leading. As
many as 140 people were killed and about 500 were injured.
He wrote that on October 23, when he went to the Rawalpindi Accountability
Court to attend proceedings in cases concerning Benazir Bhutto, he came to
know that National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Deputy Prosecutor General
Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta has not returned from the Supreme Court where he had
gone to obtain a copy of the interim order passed by the apex court in
petitions challenging the National Reconciliation Order 2007 (NRO).
“Upon this, I telephoned Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta, who informed me that he has
not been able to obtain the certified copy of the order and returning
without it,” he said.
Naek said “Bhutta also informed me that there are two letters in my name
lying in the Bar Room and asked my permission if he can bring them to me to
which I replied in affirmative.” He stated that a letter contained photostat
copies that were of no consequence, however, the other letter contained a
handwritten two-page note. “A perusal thereof revealed that it was written
by the “Head of Suicide Bombers and a Friend of Osama bin Laden and
al-Qaeda.”
He said that the letter contained derogatory and threatening remarks against
Benazir Bhutto and great emphasis was laid on her assassination with the
help of a knife.
Senator Naek stated that the fact that letter sent to him also implies
threat to his life being the legal adviser of Benazir Bhutto.
He stated that extremism and violence are the biggest challenges facing
Pakistan and it is time the state takes this threat seriously. “The state of
Pakistan needs to come clean and comprehensive strategy needs to be evolved
to rein in thoughts and actions of extremists and terrorists,” he stated.
He said that the Constitution, in clear terms, guarantees that the dignity
of a person shall be inviolable and that no person shall be deprived of life
or liberty.
“It is the duty of state functionaries to provide security to all citizens
of Pakistan so Benazir Bhutto and myself are entitled to protection of law
as a constitutional right and which includes enjoyment of all such
facilities which are necessary to protect safety and dignity of a person,”
he said.
PPP asks CJ to take suo motu action on Bhutto attack
24 Oct 2007:
The Pakistan People's Party has asked the Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court to take suo motu action to probe the suicide attack on former
premier Benazir Bhutto's rally here on October 19.
Farooq Naik, Bhutto's lawyer and a member of the Senate or Upper House, said
the party had written to the Chief Justice Iftikhar M Chaudhry on the issue.
The Supreme Court should take notice of the attempt on Benazir Bhutto's life
and the huge loss of lives and probe the matter, Naik told reporters at
Bilawal House, Bhutto's residence here.
Nearly 140 people were killed and hundreds more injured when two suicide
bombers targeted Bhutto's motorcade hours after her homecoming from eight
years in self-exile.
NDI Urges Improvements in Pakistan's Electoral Transparency and Security
STATEMENT OF THE NDI PRE-ELECTION DELEGATION TO PAKISTAN
Islamabad, October
21, 2007:
This statement is offered by an international delegation organized by the
National Democratic Institute (NDI) that visited Pakistan from October 16 to
October 21, 2007. The delegation reviewed the political environment and the
framework for the upcoming elections for the national and provincial
assemblies, expected in January 2008.
The delegation included Tom Daschle (United States), former Senate Majority
Leader; Peter Manikas (United States), NDI Senior Associate and Director of
Asia Programs; and Sue Wood (New Zealand), former President of the National
Party. Sheila Fruman, director of NDI’s Pakistan programs was the
delegation’s chief consultant. The delegation was also assisted by NDI staff
members: Niaz Ahmed, Andrew Hall, and Mailis Orban. The delegation followed
and built upon the work of a previous NDI mission that visited Pakistan from
May 13 to 17.
The delegation sought to reflect the interest and concern of the
international community in achieving democratic, civilian governance in
Pakistan. It visited the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) as well as
Islamabad and met with government and electoral officials, including the
Prime Minister and Chief Election Commissioner, a broad spectrum of
political party leaders and leaders from civic and human rights
associations, representatives of the news media, and international
organizations. The delegation offers its findings and observations in the
spirit of international cooperation and recognizes that it is the people of
Pakistan who will ultimately determine the meaningfulness of the upcoming
elections. The delegation stresses that it did not seek to reach any final
conclusions on the 2007/2008 electoral process.
The delegation would like to express its appreciation to everyone with whom
it met. Without their taking time and sharing their knowledge and insights,
the delegation would not have been able to accomplish its work.
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS AND OBSERVATIONS
As parliamentary and provincial elections approach, international attention
is focused on Pakistan as never before. The stakes are high for the people
of Pakistan, the region, and the world. If the elections enjoy the
confidence of Pakistanis, they could help return the nation to a democratic
path and end eight years of increasingly unpopular military rule. Elections
that meet international standards could also help stabilize a nuclear power
and an important strategic ally in the war on terror, which is threatened by
escalating civil strife and political violence. If the integrity of the
elections is seriously compromised and not seen as representative of the
will of the people, the nation could face increased civil conflict and the
military could become further entrenched in the nation’s political life.
Shortly after this delegation arrived, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto,
in exile since 1999, returned to Pakistan. After being greeted by hundreds
of thousands of supporters, her caravan was the target of a suicide bombing
that killed approximately 140 people and left hundreds injured. The
incident, which was described as the bloodiest political event in the
nation’s history, sadly reminded the delegation of the violent episode NDI’s
previous mission witnessed in May of this year. On the eve of that
delegation’s visit, demonstrators in Karachi, protesting the suspension of
the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, were attacked, resulting in the
deaths of 47 persons.
These incidents, as well as the continuing political and
religiously-inspired violence that plagues the nation, are deeply troubling
and could increase as the election approaches. This delegation believes it
is urgent for the government, election commission and political parties to
take immediate steps toward providing a safer electoral environment.
On October 6, General Pervez Musharraf was reelected president by an
electoral college. His decisions to seek reelection by the assemblies that
previously elected him, and to do so while remaining army chief, were widely
unpopular and the Supreme Court is currently hearing challenges to the
constitutionality of his reelection. President Musharraf has pledged to
resign his army post before his new term begins on November 15. The return
to a civilian-led government would be a first step toward building public
confidence in the electoral process.
The delegation views Benazir Bhutto’s return to Pakistan as a positive step
toward holding more credible elections. Nawaz Sharif, also a former prime
minister and leader of the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N), remains
in exile. Many Pakistanis will not view the upcoming polls as credible
without the presence of both party leaders in Pakistan contesting the
elections.
NDI’s previous delegation made several recommendations regarding election
administration, including the need for the election Commission of Pakistan (ECP)
to fill two provincial election commissioner vacancies through a
consultative process; improve the process for hearing election complaints;
and correct the electoral rolls. These problems remain. Regrettably, little
has happened over the past five months. Further delays could have very
negative consequences for the elections’ success. The delegation was told by
the ECP, however, that action would be taken on the delegation’s
recommendations.
Other problems identified in the previous delegation’s report continue
unaddressed. These include the need to open up the Federally Administered
Tribal Areas (FATA) to normal political activity; adopt measures to protect
the right of women to vote, especially in FATA, the Northwest Frontier
Province (NWFP) and Balochistan; and to issue and publicize government
orders preventing the security forces, including Inter-Services Intelligence
(ISI), from interfering in the political process.
Elections alone will not solve the problem of intolerance, exemplified by
the growing political violence; neither will they remedy the continuing
problems of poverty, religious extremism, and ethnic and sectarian strife.
The marginalization of the nation’s large, secular political parties has
prevented the establishment of a government able to a build a national
consensus around addressing these issues, which are destabilizing the
nation.
POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT
The escalating violence and intimidation in Pakistan is creating an
atmosphere of fear and threatens to curtail the ability of parties and
candidates to freely engage in political activity. Since the President’s
attempt to remove the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court last March, the
security situation in Pakistan has sharply deteriorated. As a result, the
government’s ability to maintain public order for the upcoming election is
being questioned by many. As previously mentioned, demonstrations in Karachi
last May and the attack on Benazir Bhutto this week resulted in dozens of
deaths and hundreds of injuries. In July, the government stormed the Red
Mosque in Islamabad, whose members had been terrorizing local shops they
found offensive to Islam, and who had also illegally occupied land in the
federal capital and taken Chinese nationals hostage. At least 70 persons
were reported killed in the government’s assault on the mosque. In late
August, close to 300 Pakistani soldiers were taken hostage by pro-Taliban
militants in FATA; some have been killed and the rest remain captives.
In addition, the violence that has persisted in FATA is now seeping into
areas of the NWFP. Extremists in the southern districts of the NWFP have
been attacking video shops and barber shops that shave beards in an effort
to enforce their religious beliefs on residents of the province. Political
violence has also increased in the Province’s southern districts, which is
discussed further in this statement. The abduction and disappearance of
political activists in Balochistan, where an insurgency is calling for
greater autonomy and control over a larger share of the area’s resources,
has been well-documented by Human Rights Watch and the Human Rights
Commission of Pakistan, a well-respected non-governmental group.
As NDI’s delegation in May noted, the government has frequently invoked
Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which permits local
governments to ban political activity. The law has been used selectively
against opposition parties. In addition, the government arrested many party
activists in recent months. Thousands of Nawaz Sharif’s supporters, for
example, were arrested and some were beaten on the eve of his attempted
return to Pakistan in September. The breakdown of public order, due to the
actions of the government and extremists, threatens to disrupt and impact
the legitimacy of the upcoming elections.
The election preparations of two large secular parties, the Pakistan Peoples
Party (PPP) and PML-N, have been hindered because their leaders have been in
exile for many years. Several of the nation’s political parties have failed
to develop as modern political organizations, in part because their
activities have been subject to intervention by the military and security
forces. Pakistan’s parties, however, have also been the target of widespread
criticism for corrupt practices, highly centralized and often undemocratic
procedures, and for failing to fulfill their campaign promises while in
office. This perception of the parties is one reason why the 1999 coup was
initially welcomed by large segments of the population. While parties have
taken some initial reform steps, deeper changes are needed. The parties
remain, however, the only organizations capable of mobilizing the population
to support the policies needed to deal with the nation’s pressing problems.
RULE OF LAW
The importance of preserving the independence of the judiciary has never
been more critical in Pakistan and cannot be overstated. While the nation’s
lower courts are often viewed as subject to political interference, the
higher courts – especially the Supreme Court – have been held in much higher
esteem. The public reaction to the President’s attempt to remove the Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court reflects the importance of the principle of
judicial independence to the people of Pakistan.
Pakistan’s courts perform an important role in elections. Election
Commissioners are drawn from the High Courts and Returning Officers are also
recruited from the judicial system. Election Tribunals, which handle
election complaints, are also staffed by judges. Furthermore, election
disputes are reviewed by the High Courts and Supreme Court.
At least two critical election-related issues are now before the Supreme
Court: the eligibility of President Musharraf to seek reelection and the
constitutionality of the National Reconciliation Ordinance, which in effect
removes the corruption charges against Benazir Bhutto. Decisions on these
cases are expected in the coming weeks.
MEDIA
While newspapers frequently contain articles critical of the government and
independent television channels have proliferated in recent years,
disturbing trends are also developing. Numerous instances have been reported
in which the government has failed to effectively enforce the rights of
journalists or has actively sought to limit their activities. The
International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has reported that several
journalists have been killed in recent years and Pakistani authorities have
failed to solve a single case. IFJ has also reported that the families of
journalists reporting on militants in the tribal areas have been targeted
for retaliation. NDI’s previous delegation noted that law enforcement
officials failed to intervene when the offices of Aaj TV were attacked in
Karachi during the May 12 riots.
According to Reporters Without Borders, in 2006 at least 10 journalists were
kidnapped by security forces, some for a few days, but others for up to
three months. The delegation is concerned about numerous reports of
government attempts to intimidate the electronic and print media. In
addition, a recent report of the International Committee to Protect
Journalists states that Pakistani police filed complaints against
approximately 200 journalists charging that they defied a government ban on
political rallies.
ELECTORAL PROCESS
Election Commission of Pakistan
The ECP consists of five members appointed by the president and is
responsible for administering elections in Pakistan. There are widespread
concerns among opposition political parties and civic groups that the ECP
lacks transparency and independence. Broad public confidence in the ECP is
integral to public acceptance of the results of the upcoming election. In
the long term, ensuring the independence of the ECP may require
constitutional changes in the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner
and the Election Commission members.
NDI’s previous delegation identified four major problems that needed to be
addressed by the Election Commission: the failure to hold formal and regular
meetings with the political parties to discuss ECP policies and procedures;
the inaccuracy of the voters list; insufficient transparency during the vote
count; and the long-standing vacancies on the Commission. The delegation was
disappointed that these problems remain unresolved, although assurances were
received from the ECP that some of them would be corrected.
Open dialogue between the ECP and political parties on election preparations
could go a long way toward alleviating concerns about the election process.
Although members of the ECP have occasionally met with representatives of
the political parties, they have not engaged the parties in formal and
regular meetings to share information and address concerns. The lack of a
meaningful dialogue has resulted in a loss of confidence in the work of the
ECP.
Throughout the mission, major concerns were raised about the quality of the
voters list currently being prepared by the ECP, as they were during the
Institute’s mission in May. An accurate and complete voters list is a
fundamental necessity for any credible election. Without a credible voters
list, the election results could be suspect. The current electoral rolls,
compiled through a process of door-to-door enumeration, resulted in a draft
list with approximately 20 million fewer entries than the list used during
the 2002 general elections, despite a lowering of the voting age. The
omission of millions of eligible voters prompted the Supreme Court to order
the ECP to add tens of millions of names from the previous list. While the
current electoral rolls now contain many more names, elections experts have
advised the delegation that they are no more accurate, with approximately 10
million entries that cannot be verified. Moreover, women are considerably
underrepresented on the voters list.
NDI’s pre-election mission in May recommended that the ECP make available
electronic copies of the full voters list to political parties and provide
the public with sufficient information on the voter registration process.
This delegation believes the opportunity for addressing the flaws in the
voters list is rapidly closing. It was a major oversight not to utilize the
existing database of Pakistani citizens compiled and maintained by the
National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA). NADRA has issued tens
of millions of computerized national identity cards, but its database was
not utilized in the preparation of the current voters list. Instead,
millions of dollars in aid from international donors was spent in the
construction of a voters list of questionable accuracy.
In light of concerns expressed by political parties and civic groups, the
delegation is apprehensive about the administration of the vote counting
procedures on election day. In past elections in Pakistan, election
observers have been unable to track the tabulation of votes all the way from
the polling station up to the election commission. The delegation welcomes
the provisions in the recently promulgated National Reconciliation Ordinance
(NRO) to address these issues, but it falls short of requiring the necessary
transparency for a credible tabulation process.
The delegation received credible reports concerning attempts by ISI and
other security forces to manipulate the electoral process. These attempts
include efforts to influence local officials who are responsible for
election administration at polling stations and to convince certain
individuals not to seek their party’s nomination or to switch party
allegiances. NDI’s previous delegation recommended that the government
should issue and publicize orders to security forces, including intelligence
services, stating that they must be politically neutral and not interfere in
the political process in any way. The delegation continues to believe this
recommendation is essential to enhancing confidence in the elections. In
addition, ISI operates in a legal vacuum; it is not subject to laws adopted
in a transparent matter by a democratically elected legislature. A legal
framework for the activities of all intelligence agencies is currently
lacking that would provide for the political neutrality of these
organizations. That framework could then provide the basis for parliamentary
oversight to ensure that intelligence agencies do not interfere in the
political process.
Pakistan’s constitution provides that each of the nation’s four provinces
will be represented on the ECP. Nevertheless, the seats for commissioners
from Sindh and NWFP remain vacant. In May, the Institute’s delegation
recommended that the President fill the two vacancies at the ECP in
consultation with the political parties and civil society. The ECP has
informed the delegation that the President intends to fill the vacancies;
however, there is no indication that this will be done in a transparent and
broadly consultative manner.
Coordination of Electoral Activities
Coordination meetings involving many organizations supporting electoral
activities are taking place. As the election approaches, these meetings will
be of increasing importance in ensuring that electoral preparations are
proceeding in a timely manner and that the activities of the various
organizations involved in the elections are appropriately harmonized. Often
these efforts at coordination are ineffective because specific timetables
and benchmarks are lacking. More effective coordination can help to ensure
that resources are used more effectively and efficiently.
Caretaker Cabinet
Pakistan’s constitution provides that the President may appoint a caretaker
cabinet upon the dissolution of parliament to administer elections in a
neutral manner. The delegation was informed that the President plans on
doing so. If the caretaker cabinet is appointed without reaching a consensus
among the political parties, there is little public confidence that it will
perform its responsibilities in an unbiased manner.
Security
Either by design or a lack of state capacity, the government’s writ does not
extend throughout much of the nation’s territory. In addition to frequent
incidents of political violence in various areas of the country, such as
those in Karachi on May 12 and October 18, the delegation is deeply
concerned about the persistent instability and lack of security in the FATA
and southern districts of the NWFP. The delegation received reliable reports
that threats have been made by religious extremists against the leaders of
regional secular parties and moderate religious parties in NWFP. Voters and
candidates in these regions must feel confident that they can safely
exercise their rights, without fear of retribution or intimidation.
Currently, political parties are concerned about the possible postponement
of the election in numerous areas. In addition, there are concerns that, as
in past elections, there will be “no go” areas, which were considered unsafe
for some parties to campaign freely.
The ECP has indicated a code of conduct will be instituted for political
parties, with the aim of establishing clear guidelines for party activities
and candidates during the campaign period and on election day. If
effectively implemented, adherence to the code of conduct will be a welcome
development as it could reduce the incidence of political violence around
the elections. With concerted effort, election stakeholders could eliminate
violence and instability from the electoral period and create an environment
in which credible elections can be held.
Protecting the Rights of Women
The constitution of Pakistan guarantees the right to vote for all citizens,
including women. The delegation was troubled to learn about a recent
by-election in the Baujar Agency of FATA where the contesting parties – both
secular and religious – mutually agreed that women would be prohibited from
casting votes. This coordinated mass disenfranchisement undermines the
fundamental principle of democratic elections. The ECP has the authority to
nullify such elections, but has not done so.
Concerns about the right of women to participate on election day have also
been raised in other parts of the country, such as Balochistan and NWFP. The
delegation received reliable reports that women in many areas have not had
the opportunity to cast votes without fear or intimidation. In many
instances, polling stations for women have not been adequately staffed and
operated in full accordance with the law in past elections.
DOMESTIC ELECTION MONITORING AND INTERNATIONAL OBSERVING
The delegation learned that the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN), a
network of 26 civil society organizations, will be deploying 24,000
non-partisan election monitors in all 272 constituencies. With the use of
mobile units, the FAFEN team will visit approximately 30,000 polling
stations on election day. FAFEN also plans to monitor and report on
violations of the code of conduct, and it promotes political electoral
reforms.
International observers will also be present during the upcoming elections.
The delegation strongly supports these efforts and encourages the
international observers to
coordinate their efforts with domestic election monitors. Moreover, given
its size and the importance of these elections, Pakistan would benefit from
the participation of a large number of international observation missions.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The delegation offers the following recommendations in the spirit of
international cooperation and with the hope that they will be helpful in
promoting inclusive, transparent and credible elections:
Election Integrity
The Election Commission should:
- develop a formal process of regular and timely consultations with the
political parties and civil society sharing views on routine election
procedures and policies; regular meetings should also be held with the
political parties at the national and provincial levels to discuss security
issues and identify areas expected to be especially troublesome as the
elections approach;
- gain access to NADRA’s database of identity card holders in order to
strengthen the accuracy of the voters list;
- publish the final voters list in an electronic format, thereby avoiding
the time-consuming printing of the voters list that narrows the window
during which improvements can be made prior to the calling of elections;
- establish procedures in a timely manner whereby domestic and international
observers will be guaranteed access to all stages of the vote counting
process;
- instruct that election results announced at the district level include a
breakdown by polling station to improve the transparency of the vote
tabulation;
- require polling officials at each polling station to post the results in a
manner that is visible to the public immediately after the count at each
station is concluded;
revise the procedures for handling electoral disputes to ensure timely
adjudication and if necessary, timely redress; and ensure adequate training
for election day workers.
Governance
the government should take all necessary steps to prevent election-related
violence and promptly investigate and prosecute all attempts to disrupt the
electoral process;
the involvement of the intelligence agencies in the electoral process must
be terminated;
the government should create a legal framework for the security forces,
including intelligence services, requiring that they be politically neutral
and not interfere in the political process in any way; such a framework
should then provide the basis for parliamentary oversight to ensure
compliance with the law;
criminal laws should not be used to impede political activity and no law
designed to protect public order should be selectively applied;
the President should fill the two current vacancies on the ECP in full
consultation with the political parties and civil society;
the President should use the authority in the Constitution to establish a
neutral caretaker Cabinet in consultation with political parties and civil
society;
the government should review the ban on political parties operating in FATA
and work with tribal leaders and political parties to normalize the
political situation in the tribal areas; and
the government should cooperate with judicial inquiries investigating the
killing and abduction of journalists and political party workers.
Electoral Rights
the government should use its full authority to improve the law-and-order
situation, particularly in FATA and southern districts of NWFP, to ensure
that campaigning can take place prior to, and voting on, election day;
political parties and other participants in the electoral process should
adhere to a code of conduct and refrain from employing violence during the
electoral period; and
the government and police should use their full authority to enforce the
right of women to vote and the right of the media to cover the elections in
all areas of the country.
Election Coordination and Observation
coordination of all election-related efforts, including the work of the ECP,
should include specific timetables and benchmarks to ensure that resources
are effectively and efficiently utilized; and
the government, the ECP and political parties should fully cooperate with
domestic monitoring and international observation efforts.
For any questions, please contact Kathy Gest in Washington at +1 202 728
5535 or Sheila Fruman in Islamabad at +92 51 285 3548.
Who Tried to Kill Benazir Bhutto?
By Hassan Abbas,
October 24, 2007: Benazir Bhutto, twice-elected prime minister of Pakistan
and the first woman head of a Muslim state, decided to terminate her
self-exile and return to Pakistan last week. By all accounts, more than a
million people (mostly poor and young) welcomed her enthusiastically in the
port city of Karachi on October 18. In the midst of the celebration, the
political rally was targeted by a series of suicide attacks killing around
140 people. Bhutto and her top party leaders, however, remained unhurt.
Who would have been the potential beneficiary of Bhutto's elimination?
Benazir Bhutto's late father, who was hanged after a fraudulent trial in
1979 by a military junta, was the founder of the Pakistan Peoples Party
(PPP)—a progressive and secular political party that emerged in 1967 and
played a critical role in the ouster of then military ruler Ayub Khan.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto remained head of the government from 1971 to 1977 and
was removed from office in a military coup led by a religious conservative,
General Zia ul-Haq. General Zia, besides his Afghan jihad affair in
collaboration with the United States in the 1980s, introduced strict and
controversial Islamic laws in the state, leading to a transformation of
state policy and society. During his time in power, Saudi-funded seminaries
mushroomed and religious political parties gained significant government
support, developing links with the army and intelligence outfits. The
products of this era further nurtured a hatred for the PPP, as it was
continuously challenging Zia's conservative policies.
In this context, Bhutto is seen by religious extremists as someone
representing liberal and progressive forces and by default
pro-Western/American. Due to U.S. entanglement in Iraq and the controversies
relating to the war on terrorism, critical views about U.S. policies are
popular in Pakistan and the credible reports that the U.S. played a role in
bringing Musharraf and Bhutto closer have not gone well, especially with
religious conservative forces in the country.
Before Bhutto's return, Pakistani media gave extensive coverage to a strong
threat given to Bhutto by Baitullah Mehsud, a militant leader of Waziristan
closely associated with Taliban and foreign/Arab fighters hiding in the
area. He announced that his suicide bombers were in Karachi to "welcome"
Bhutto—alleging that she was returning as part of a U.S. game plan to fight
the war on terrorism (The Post, October 13; Dawn, October 9). Bhutto
responded to this threat by arguing that Mehsud was just a pawn in a bigger
conspiracy in which the real culprits are "some retired army officers in the
establishment" (Daily Times, October 18). Interestingly, Mehsud, after the
attacks on October 18, denied that he had ever threatened Bhutto in the
first place. His denial might have had some credibility if he had clarified
his position soon after his statement appeared in the mainstream Pakistani
press on October 6.
Secondly, the mode of the suicide attack, in terms of the type of device
used and its strength, was similar to other attacks in Islamabad and
Rawalpindi in the last few months, which are believed to be conducted by
Baitullah Mehsud and his associates. In this case, however, the face of one
of the possible two bombers was found intact and his features appear to be
of a non-Pashtun (The News, October 20, 21). It is likely that Baitullah
Mehsud used some of his comrades belonging to Punjab or Sindh provinces. It
is also possible that the bomber was associated with the Red Mosque—as
Bhutto had supported the military operation against the mosque, inviting the
ire of those associated with the religious center.
There are also rumors in Pakistan that Musharraf's major political ally,
Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, and his associates might have orchestrated the
attacks, as their political future would be damaged by Bhutto's return to
Pakistani politics. Musharraf, on the other hand, benefits from Bhutto's
return as her understanding with him has provided him support at a time when
he is deeply unpopular. Additionally, it is argued that though Musharraf,
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao have all
survived assassination attempts (by suicide bombers), his chief political
allies Chaudhry Shujaat and his cousin Chaudhry Pervez Elahi have never
faced any such attack or even threat. These latter two officials are known
for their sympathies with local religious extremists, and Chaudhry Shujaat
is on record having said that "our hearts are with Osama and brains with
Musharraf" (Weekly Independent, October 11-17, 2001).
Another plausible scenario is the possibility that former ISI officials or
rogue elements within the intelligence outfits, linked with Taliban and
other militant groups such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Harkat ul Jihad-e-Islami
and Jaish-e-Mohammad, were involved in orchestrating the attack. Some former
ISI officials are known for providing such "guidance" to their former
clients.
Bhutto has asked Musharraf to appoint credible police officers to pursue the
investigation and also involve foreign forensic experts. The government of
Pakistan, however, has so far refused to accept this demand, giving some
credence to the view that the government has something to hide. It is
unlikely that any credible information about the real identity of the
attackers will be made available to the Pakistani public and international
community. That would not be unprecedented, as Pakistanis are still waiting
to hear who assassinated the country's first prime minister, Liaquat ali
Khan, in 1951.
PPP rejects Shaikh Rashid remarks justifying October 18 attack
Islamabad October 24, 2007: The Pakistan Peoples Party has rejected the
Federal Railways Minister's statement justifying the October 18 attack on
the innocent PPP workers.
Shaikh Rashid said in Karachi that the attack on PPP rally was because the
PPP was following 'an imperialistic agenda'. By this he meant that PPP was
against terrorists who benefited from dictatorship.
In a statement today PPP leader raja Pervez Ashraf said that Shaikh Rashid
had served in two military dictatorships which had given the nation the
klashinkov culture and suicide bombers and made miserable the life of
working classes, middle classes, old, young women and the minorities
miserable.
The PPP leader said that the Party's agenda was to serve the masses by
saving democracy. Fighting for peace and democracy was apro-Islam and pro-
democracy agenda, he said.
The PPP leader noted that the international community had supported both the
dictatorships of Zia and Musharraf yet Shaikh Rashid had never justified
suicide attacks on its cabinet members on the ground that these were
'imperialist backed policies'.
Now that the international community was supporting democracy in Afghanistan
and fair elections in Pakistan Sheikh Rashid was suddenly justifying suicide
attacks. He said that terrorism acts are criminal and cannot be justified.
The PPP supported moderates within the PML Q but asked General Musharraf to
be cautious of those in the cabinet who had defended suicide attacks and
were now trying to justify terrorist attacks of Oct 18. He said that such
elements who justified suicide attacks and act of terrorism were
facilitating an anti people, anti democracy and anti Islamic agenda to
exploit the people but they could not succeed because the people of Pakistan
would defeat them.
Raja Pervez Ashraf said that Shaikh Rashid's remarks were a perverted logic
as it amounted to saying that anyone opposing militancy will be faced with
such attacks in the future as well.
No decision yet on joining the caretaker set up
Islamabad October 24, 2007: A section of the media has reported that the PPP
has decided to join the caretaker set up.
Clarifying press reports a spokesperson of the Party said today that no such
decision had yet been taken by the Party.
He said that the Party presently was looking at ways and means to ensure
free and fair elections and no decision on joining the caretaker set up had
been taken.
Naheed Khan is Political Secretary to Party Chairperson and not Security
Adviser.
Islamabad, 24 October 2007: A spokesman of Pakistan Peoples Party has denied
a news item in a section of press claiming that Ms. Naheed Khan, the
Political Secretary to the Chairperson Pakistan Peoples Party has been
appointed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto's Chief Security Adviser following the
October 18 attack on the PPP rally.
The spokesman further said that Ms. Naheed Khan has been and continues to be
the Political Secretary of the Chairperson.
PPP shocked over massive loans write off
Demands making public the beneficiaries and punishment to offenders
Islamabad October 24, 2007: Pakistan Peoples Party has expressed shock over
the reports that the top notches of the regime had written off over 53
billion rupees of bank loans during the last five years and demanded that
the names of the beneficiaries of the loan write off be made public and
those involved in loot and plunder brought to book.
Press reports quoting a secret official report have said that top notches
had written off billions of bank loans on the basis of a decision taken by
the financial team of Gen Pervez Musharraf in October 2002.
This shocking disclosure has been made in a secret report submitted before
the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly, the press
reports have said.
In a statement today spokesperson of the Party said that the official report
had exposed the hollow claims of accountability and rooting out of
corruption by the present regime.
"The mud sticks and it is imperative that the regime comes out clean on this
unprecedented loot of public money" he said.
He said that anti democracy elements in the present dispensation have been
blaming the past governments for corruption but have now been exposed
themselves as the most corrupt.
The report shows that politicians, civil and military business concerns and
business tycoons of Karachi, Lahore and other areas were the direct
beneficiaries and made hay while the sun shone for them during the past five
years.
Two sitting chief ministers of the provinces and their families having big
business concerns and stakes are also beneficiaries of these written off
loans, according to these reports.
The chief minister of a province whose family owns sugar mills, also got
loans written off under this scheme. The chief minister of another province
got loans written off outstanding against his ghee mills. Even some foreign
firms and multinational companies and a private bus service operating from
Lahore to different cities of Punjab were also extended this facility, the
press reports have said.
The spokesperson said that the PPP would pursue the matter at all available
forums to expose the plunderers and to bring them to book.
Maltese Foreign Minister called Mohtarma Bhuto's office
Islamabad October 24, 2007: Michael Fernandez foreign minister of Malta
called Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto's office to condemn the October 18 bombing of
the rally and express sympathy over the loss of so many innocent lives.
Michael Fernadez also said that they were relieved that Mohtarma was safe
and remained unhurt.
He said that they had moved resolution in a meeting of the foreign ministers
of the European Union condemning the bomb blasts.
Rehman Malik clarifies
Says he has not exonerated DG IB or chief ministers of involvement in attack
on rally
Islamabad October 24, 2007: Dr. Rehman Malik Security Advisor to PPP
Chairperson Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto has clarified the remarks attributed to
him in a segment of the press wrongly claiming that elements of the security
and administration were not suspects in the terrorist attack on former Prime
Minister Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto on October 18.
In a statement today he said that to clear the suspects named by former
Prime Minister Mohtarma Bhutto the present regime must invite foreign
experts with scientific and forensic expertise to investigate the terrorist
attack. Any attempt not to involve foreign experts would be viewed
suspiciously by the people of Pakistan.
Meanwhile a spokesperson of the PPP said that the present inquiry was inept
and was undermining crucial evidence with its ineptness. It still did now
know whether a suicide bomber or car bomb or grenade caused the attacks, he
said.
Moreover none of those involved in the Islamabad blasts, the attack on the
Sunni tehrik or others had been apprehended, he said. "This proved that
internal intelligence had ceased to work efficiently"
The PPP believes that powerful hand behind militant groups must be exposed
to prevent militancy and terrorism which is a multi billion empire in
narcotics trade and arms smuggling trade, he said.
PPP demands Inquiry into Loan Write-off Scandal
Says Scheme used for Poll Rigging in 2002
Islamabad, October 23, 2007: The Pakistan Peoples Party took strong
exception to news reports regarding a recent loan write off that was without
precedent in terms of sheer size in the history of the country.
An astounding amount of Rs 54 billion was written off under a dubious scheme
introduced in 2002. The scheme benefited 50,000 individuals including
politicians, civil and military leaders and a few top business houses of the
country. Two sitting Chief Ministers and their families also benefited from
this audacious patronage plan.
Expressing her Party's shock and anger at this blatant misuse of public
money, Sherry Rehman, Central Information Secretary Pakistan Peoples Party
said that this was a cruel joke with the country of 160 million where 74% of
the population lives below two dollars a day.
Rehman deplored the fact that the scheme, which she described as deeply
flawed, was shamelessly exploited by some of the most senior public figures
in this government. "This incentive was meant to benefit a select few from
the start. Therefore the minimum limit of loans for write-offs was set at
Rs0.5 million, cruelly pushing small-scale growers and business concerns out
of the ambit of the scheme," she noted.
"It is shocking that the economic managers of the regime, who now sound like
broken records when they brag about their so called clean track record,
presided over one of the biggest loan write offs in the history of the
country."
Rehman criticised the role of the Ministry of Finance in facilitating the
move that deprived the national exchequer of the amount equivalent to over
ten times the health budget and twice the education budget of the country.
"While the scheme was ostensibly meant to address non-performing loans only,
it conveniently embraced billions of rupees as write offs under the garb of
NPLs. It is no secret that the NPL accounts were allowed to accumulate and
later closed using this dubious scheme," Rehman observed.
She also asked why none of the loan write offs was questioned by NAB that
wastes no time in implicating opposition politicians in false cases.
Rehman noted that the timing of the introduction of this scheme indicates
that this scheme was an indirect part of the poll rigging exercise that
marked the general elections 2002. "It is no co-incidence that the same
elements that now form an integral part of the government, stood to benefit
from the scheme."
Rehman demanded an immediate inquiry into the scam and also called for the
names of the culprits to be made public. "There is no way such a massive
loan write off can be forgiven. The biggest names in the current government
machinery who benefited from it have already made millions during their
tenure in the office. They filled their coffers at the expense of the nation
that found itself trapped in the vicious circle of unprecedented increase in
poverty, rising cost of living and decreasing access to health and
educational facilities."
Shaikh Rashid is no-one to decide who will be PM : Sherry Rehman
Islamabad October 24: Reacting to Railway Minister, Sheikh Rashid's
statement that Mohtarma Bhutto can never be PM again, Central Information
Secretary of the PPP, Sherry Rehman, told a private tv channel that the
Minister should worry about keeping his own constituency instead of
attempting to subvert the right of the people to elect their own leader.
" When a cabinet minister begins to eliminate the name of the Chairperson of
the largest political party as a prospective candidate for the PM's slot, or
any slot, he is not just exposing his own panic at the massive reception she
got from the electorate, but also striking at the heart of the democratic
process.
" In a free and fair election, only the voters get to choose who exercises
sovereignty in their name, not a ruling class that sees power as their own
monopoly. By saying the Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto cannot be PM, Rashid is
openly advocating a selection, not an election. He is also vitiating the
spirit of national reconciliation that his own government is advocating,
thus revealing the internal disarray in the government's ranks, said Rehman.
"
" Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto has demonstrated that her political strength is
rooted in Pakistan's people, and it is her right just like any citizen to be
accorded a level playing field. If Pakistan is to be led out of this inferno
of chaos and instability, only a leader of her stature and mandate can do
it. It is not in the interests of the country or its disempowered people for
cabinet ministers to continue to resort to the bancrupt politics of
intolerance or to advocate manipulated elections and a powerless parliament.
The PPP also condemns all attempts to blame the victims for the October 18th
blast. If Mr Rashid thinks that the PPP invited such blasts, or that people
on the streets came for anyone else other than Mohtarma, he is truly
delusional and is validating acts of terror.
"At such a delicate crossroads in its turbulent history, and growing
challenges to the survival of the state, Pakistan can ill afford such
immaturity from its public representatives, said Rehman. " It is high time
people in responsible offices took responsible positions"
The Bhutto Attacks
Cold comfort is the best we can hope for.
By Aaron Mannes
Oct 24, 2007:
The question of who was behind Friday’s assassination attempt on Benazir
Bhutto is the whodunit from hell and, instead of a pistol, the drawing room
dénouement will feature Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.
Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s October 18 return from a decade of
exile was bound to be a pivotal moment in Pakistani politics, and thus, also
will likely to be a violent one. Frustrated with President Musharraf’s
unending military dictatorship and stagnating living conditions, the people
of Karachi turned out in huge numbers to greet Bhutto as their potential
savior.
The attack, which struck as Bhutto’s convoy slowly made its way through the
city of Karachi, did not injure Bhutto. It did, however, kill 140 people,
half of whom were members of Bhutto’s security detail. So far details remain
unclear, although security services claim to have identified the heads of
two suicide bombers.
At the best of times Pakistan is a society with a penchant for conspiracy
theories, and the circumstances of the attack can only fuel this
speculation. Despite ample warning that an attack on Bhutto was likely,
security was inadequate to control the massive crowds that formed to meet
Bhutto. Because of these crowds Bhutto’s convoy took about ten hours to
travel about ten miles, while Karachi became a giant street party — and a
perfect target for terror. Oddly, streetlights along the convoy’s route were
turned off, complicating security efforts to spot possible attackers. In
fairness however, Pakistani infrastructure is spotty at best, and these
failings may have been due to raw incompetence. The government’s response to
Bhutto’s accusations is that Bhutto ignored their security advice and
insisted on a massive rally — of course such rallies are central to
Pakistani politics.
Bhutto has vowed to fight Pakistan’s Islamists. Reportedly, a Taliban leader
in South Waziristan, Baitullah Mehsud, who has been linked to the bombing
attacks that were a response to the government’s storming of the Red Mosque
earlier this summer, promised to greet Bhutto with suicide bombs. Mehsud has
since denied making this statement. Even if this particular band of
Islamists had nothing to do with the attacks, there is a vast constellation
of Pakistani Islamist groups — most with at least tangential links to al
Qaeda - that would object to Bhutto taking power and many would be savvy
enough not to advertise their intentions.
However, many Pakistanis, including Bhutto herself, believe that if the
Islamists were involved, they did so as cat’s paws for Pakistani
intelligence. Pakistani intelligence has supported various Islamist groups
to further its interests in Aghanistan, Kashmir, and Pakistan. Bhutto goes
further and has stated that while she does not hold Pakistan’s President
Pervez Musharraf responsible; there are three officials, whom she will not
name, linked to former President Zia ul-Haq (who overthrew and executed her
father), behind the attack. Not surprisingly, there is a great deal of
speculation about these individuals. Topping the list is retired General
Ejaz Shah, the head of the Intelligence Bureau (and consequently ultimately
responsible for Bhutto’s security). Shah was reportedly the intelligence
community’s liaison to the Taliban, al Qaeda, and to Omar Sheikh who is in
prison for the murder of Daniel Pearl.
Also suspected are Chaudhru Pervez Ellahi and Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain. When
Musharraf deposed the last elected Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, the
intelligence services engineered a split of Sharif’s party, the Pakistani
Muslim League (PML). The Chaudhry cousins head the faction loyal to
Musharraf. Bhutto, head of the other major national party, the Pakistan
People’s Party (PPP), has been in ongoing negotiations with Musharraf about
entering a power-sharing arrangement. Few in Pakistan think much of the
Chaudhry faction of the PML, while the PPP (as seen in the turnout to
Bhutto’s homecoming) commands a substantial following. With Bhutto providing
civilian legitimacy to Musharraf’s regime, the Chaudhry brothers would be
out of the equation. Another possible candidate for Bhutto’s list is Ejaz
ul-Haq, currently Musharraf’s Minister for Religious Affairs and the son of
Zia ul-Haq, who executed Bhutto’s father.
Although Bhutto’s charges are a fascinating window into Pakistani politics,
their veracity is uncertain. It is possible that as Bhutto moves closer to
Musharraf, these are rivals that will need to be removed. She had previously
called on Musharraf to fire General Shah because of his Islamist links. PML
chief Hussain has responded that there was in fact a conspiracy, engineered
by Bhutto’s husband (nicknamed Mr. 10% for his “deal-making” activities when
Bhutto was in office) in order to garner sympathy for Bhutto.
There are other, more harrowing potential motives behind the attempt on
Bhutto’s life. In courting Western support for her return to Pakistan,
Bhutto promised that the International Atomic Energy Agency would receive
access to A. Q. Khan, father of the Pakistani nuclear program and head of an
international clandestine nuclear proliferation ring, who is currently under
house arrest. The full extent of Khan’s network remains unknown. It is
inconceivable that Khan carried out his operations without substantial
assistance from figures in Pakistan’s military and intelligence services.
This is information that the intelligence services would not like to see
revealed. Another player that would prefer that the IAEA not have access to
A. Q. Khan would be his leading customer. Khan may be able to reveal
critical details about Iran’s nuclear program that would galvanize the
international community against the Iranian nuclear program. Iran has
launched suicide terror attacks around the world in support of their
strategic interests, and there are militant Shia organizations in Pakistan
with links to Iran.
Because of the long links between Pakistani intelligence and the Islamists,
none of these scenarios are mutually exclusive. The government has refused
Bhutto’s request for international participation in the investigation, which
will only foster conspiracy theorists. But, in all likelihood, the attack on
Bhutto was linked to a Pakistani Islamist organization. However, it is a
cold comfort that attributing a massive terror attack to the Islamist “usual
suspects” is the least disturbing scenario.
— Aaron Mannes, editor of TheTerrorWonk, researches international security
affairs at the University of Maryland’s Laboratory for Computational
Cultural Dynamics and is a Ph.D. student at the University of Maryland.
Turkish Prime Minister writes to Mohtarma Bhutto
Islamabad October 23, 2007: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan has
condemned the attack on the PPP rally on October 18 and expressed grief and
sorrow over the death of so many people. In a letter addressed to Mohtarma
Bhutto he said that there was consolation in the thought that Mohtarma
herself remained unharmed.
Following is the text of letter to the Turkish Prime Minister.
Ankara,
19 Ekim 2007
Benazir Bhutto
Leader of the Pakistan People's Party
Ms. Bhutto, Dear Sister,
I have learned with deep sorrow the heinous attack targeting your motorcade
on the day of your arrival to your country after eight years, which claimed
the lives of many innocent people.
May God rest the souls of the deceased and let the injured recover swiftly.
Knowing that you are unharmed in this abhorrent attack is our sole
consolation. I strongly condemn this terrorist attack which, in your person,
targeted peace and stability of Pakistan.
I have complete confidence that the brotherly people of Pakistan will
overcome these troubled times in a spirit of international cooperation and
that a bright future awaits Pakistan.
Due to this heinous attack, on behalf of the Turkish Nation and myself, I
extend my heartfelt condolences to you, to the bereaved families of the
victims and to the brotherly people of Pakistan.
Recep Tayyip Erdoðan
Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey
Mohtarma Bhutto calls on to Aftab Shaban Mirani for condolence
Islamabad, 23 October 2007: Former Prime Minister and Chairperson Pakistan
Peoples Party Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto called on to Aftab Shabaan Mirani at
his residence in Karachi yesterday to condole his wife's death who passed
away recently.
President PPP Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Senator Dr. Safdr Abbassi, Ms.
Naheed Khan MNA, Dr. Fahmida Mirza MNA, Opposition Leadr in Sindh Assembly
Nisar Khoro and Spokesman of the Chairperson PPP former Senator Farhatullah
Babar accompanied Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto.
Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto offered fateha and condoled with the family members.
New ‘Al Qaeda’ assassination threat for Benazir
By Shamim-ur-Rahman
KARACHI, Oct 23: Pakistan People’s Party chairperson Benazir Bhutto has
received assassination threats from a terrorist while there were reports on
Tuesday that the government has put her name on the Exit Control List, to
which the PPP has taken serious exception.
According to Ms Bhutto’s lawyer Farooq H. Naek, the threat was contained in
a letter posted to him from Rawalpindi and was lying in a room of the
Islamabad Bar Association where he had gone in connection with Ms Bhutto’s
case in an accountability court.
He told Dawn that the two-page letter in Urdu contained derogatory remarks
about Ms Bhutto, besides threat to assassinate her. Written by “the head of
suicide bombers and a friend of Al Qaeda and Osama”, it also contained
threat that women commandos and suicide bombers could also be used to get
the PPP chairperson eliminated, Mr Naek said, adding that the matter had
been brought to the knowledge of the authorities.
Ms Bhutto’s lawyer said he had also approached the interior secretary to
seek withdrawal of the letter the government had written to Interpol for
issuing red warrants against the PPP chairperson. He maintained that since
Ms Bhutto was back in the country, the reason for issuing red warrants did
not exist.
He also said that he had information that Ms Bhutto’s name had been put on
the ECL. He demanded that it should be removed because it was against her
fundamental right.
Through another letter, Mr Naek demanded of the Sindh home secretary to
allow the PPP chief to move in a vehicle with tinted glasses and to provide
necessary security staff in view of the security threat.
Commenting on the new threats, PPP information secretary Sherry Rehman told
Dawn that Ms Bhutto remained undeterred and had asked for security for all
political leaders, not just herself.
“Acts of terrorism occur in many neighbouring countries, but the democratic
process remains uninterrupted. The Mohtarma seeks a similar uninterrupted
democratic process through free and fair elections and a peaceful transition
to representative civilian rule in Pakistan,” she said.
When asked about the investigation, Ms Rehman said the PPP had received no
satisfactory answers so far.
Guards Who Died for Bhutto Are Mourned
By PAISLEY DODDS
KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Blotting tears with tattered and dusty head
scarves, mothers of dozens of bodyguards killed protecting Benazir Bhutto
cling to the belief that their sons died for Pakistan.
Their sons vanished in a blinding light without being able to say goodbye.
Some mothers didn't know their sons had decided to protect Bhutto's return
from exile until they saw their charred bodies.
"If I would have known what he was doing, I would have stopped him," said
Sugra Bai Agria, whose 27-year-old son, Abdul, was among 136 people killed
in last week's suicide bombing. "But his sacrifice won't be forgotten."
Abdul's third child — a girl — was born a few hours before the bomb attack.
His two toddlers now climb on their fragile grandmother and await their
father's return. Lost for words, she has told his children Abdul is on a
pilgrimage to Mecca.
The former prime minister had hundreds of unpaid guards from across Pakistan
with her on the day of the bombing. A total of 50 died, 40 of them from
Karachi's Lyari slum, a trash-strewn pit of misery where most people support
Bhutto.
Power outages are common, water is scarce and most residents are
underemployed in the grimy crime-ridden ghetto, yet the community willingly
sent its sons to protect Bhutto.
More than anything, most in Lyari are loyal to the memory of Bhutto's father
— Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, a prime minister known for socialist policies that
brought jobs, housing and health care to the poor, but who was hanged in
1979 by the military dictator who had forced him from power.
Some believe it is their obligation to support Bhutto out of respect for her
father and what he and his political party did for the poor.
Wearing T-shirts with slogans that read "Janisaad," or "Loyal until Death,"
the guards kept crowds at bay with bamboo rods last week as Bhutto's
bulletproof bus lurched toward the tomb of Pakistan's founding father,
Mohammed Ali Jinnah.
As the convoy made its way through the crowded streets, a grenade exploded
around midnight Thursday, jolting hundreds of guards into forming a human
shield around her bus. Seconds later, a suicide bomber detonated a
shrapnel-laden device. In addition to the dead, scores were wounded.
The guards' sacrifice for the 54-year-old Bhutto, who had fled the country
in 1999 amid corruption charges, is one that can be hard to understand,
except perhaps in Lyari, a place buzzing with flies and packed with idle
laborers who often wait days for their next job.
"The people of Lyari are living in hell," said Sarbazi, a 34-year-old
resident who uses one name. "Anyone who gives a glimmer of hope that things
could change will be supported."
Fatalism reigns in these downtrodden parts of Pakistan, and the desire to
feel part of something — anything outside the ordinary grind — often
overrules logic and reason.
Rows of shopkeepers near an alley where workers dump wheelbarrows full of
trash believe the garbage will disappear if Bhutto comes to power again.
"We are willing to lay down our lives for her because she will help the
poor. I will do it again," said Abdul's brother, Rahim, 32, who was also one
of Bhutto's guards and whose right foot was pierced by shrapnel.
He was standing next to the bus driver when the first blast went off.
Stunned, he later found his younger brother's burned body in the hospital.
Bhutto said she received a tip that four suicide squads — Taliban and
al-Qaida supporters — had been sent to kill her on her return.
Although the danger of her return to Pakistan was clear, it isn't known
whether she passed her intelligence information on to anyone besides
President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who approved extra police to accompany her
convoy.
Dozens of police officers also were killed in last week's blast.
"The human shield around my truck bore the brunt," Bhutto said after the
attack. "Their lives were not lost in vain. Their deaths will not be
futile."
Relatives of the dead hope Bhutto will come to Lyari and give them money —
two days after the attack, she visited the hospital and gave the wounded
money in envelopes.
Amna Baluch said she begged her son Ibrahim, a 35-year-old plumber, not to
guard Bhutto's procession.
"I knew the risk of something like this happening was too high," said
Baluch, 55, surrounded by female relatives in a dark concrete room where
they were weeping, grasping prayer beads and reading prayers for the dead
from the Quran.
"I'm trying not to see his death as a loss and rather a sacrifice for the
country. This was God's will for Pakistan."
Associated Press writer Ashraf Khan contributed to this report.
Bhutto: gov't officials' hand in bombing
Wed, 24 Oct 2007:
Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, President General Pervez Musharraf
Benazir Bhutto says a close friend of the President Pervez Musharraf had
been among three people who she accused of plotting against her.
Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has sent three names to President
General Pervez Musharraf of people with powerful positions in government who
she accused of plotting an assassination attempt against her.
Bhutto thinks important figures from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q
party and a head of a spy agency could be behind Thursday's attack.
The government has rejected Bhutto's claim that elements within the
administration and security forces were trying to kill her.
Benazir Bhutto also accused the Pakistani government of staging a cover-up
after it refused her request for British and American experts to join the
inquiry into last Thursday's suicide bombing.
"If people have nothing to hide then they should be open to investigators
from all over the world," the former prime minister told a press conference
at her closely guarded Karachi home. "It's simply not right that attempts
should be made to cover up an assassination attempt ... Obviously some
people are being protected."
Meanwhile Ishrat ul Ebad Khan, the governor of Sindh province said that the
bomb blasts targeting former premier Benazir Bhutto resembled attacks by
al-Qaeda and their allied Pakistani militants and were the work of two
suicide bombers.
The death toll had risen to 140, and included a couple with their
one-year-old child. More than 500 people were wounded.
PPP sets up special fund for victims of October 18 bombing
Islamabad, October 23, 2007: On the direction of Party Chairperson Mohtarma
Benazir Bhutto, a special fund has been set up to assist the victims of
October 18 bombing on the PPP rally in Karachi.
In a statement today former defence minister Aftab Shaban Mirani said that a
special account has been opened in the United Bank Ltd Clifton Branch for
this purpose.
The Party appeals that donations be deposited in Account No. 010-5801-5,
United Bank Limited, Clifton Branch Code 0949, Karachi .
Aftab Shaban Mirani said that the fund will be exclusively utilized for the
rehabilitation and welfare of the victims of the October 18 tragedy.
PPP asks regime to remove name of Mohtarma Bhutto from the ECL
Islamabad October 22, 2007: The Pakistan Peoples Party has asked the regime
to remove the name of Mohtarma Bhutto from the Exit Control List.
The demand was made in a letter addressed to the Interior Secretary by the
PPP Chairperson's defence lawyer Senator Farooq H. Naek Advocate Supreme
Court of Pakistan, after it was learnt that her name had been put on the
ECL. The letter was sent by courier service today.
Following is the text of the letter sent to the Interior Secretary.
Dear Secretary Interior,
"I represent former Prime Minister Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. It has been
informed that the name of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto has been placed on Exit
Control List (ECL) by the Ministry of Interior, Government of Pakistan.
However, till date Mohtarma Bhutto has not been communicated about the
placement of her name on ECL, thereby restricting her movement to go out and
come back to Pakistan. The said order is not only malafide but also illegal
and unconstitutional.
"Article 15 of the Constitution of Pakistan bestows right on every citizen
of Pakistan to enter and move freely throughout the county and to go out and
come back to the country. Thus fundamental right of Mohtarma Bhutto
envisaged by Constitution of Pakistan, has been violated and infringed by
placement of his name on ECL.
"It is therefore requested that the name of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto may
kindly be removed from ECL forthwith and I may be informed about it
accordingly.
Sincerely, Senator Farooq H. Naek Advocate Supreme Court of Pakistan"
Top guns got Rs 54bn loans written off
By Rauf Klasra
ISLAMABAD Oct 23,
2007: As the present government completes its five-year term in office
on November 15, it has been officially disclosed in a secret report that the
top guns of Pakistan got Rs 53.499 billion bank loans written off on the
basis of a decision taken by the financial team of Gen Pervez Musharraf in
October 2002.
This shocking disclosure has been made in a secret report submitted before
the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly which has been
requested to take up the issue at requested to take up the issue at the
earliest to know the reasons behind such a massive loss to the public
exchequer facilitating the privileged of the present government.
As the present government would claim to be the first in the history of
Pakistan that has completed five years in office, at the same time it would
also be 'credited' with writing off such an unprecedented amount of loans
within its five years in office to facilitate top guns of the regime.
The report shows that a total of 50,000 persons including politicians, civil
and military business concerns and business tycoons of Karachi, Lahore and
other areas were the direct beneficiaries of this massive favour.
Two sitting chief ministers of the provinces and their families having big
business concerns and stakes are also beneficiaries of these written off
loans whose details would be discussed in the committee meeting.
Although in the past, reports of written off loans have been appearing at
different forums including the National Assembly, this is the first time
that the total written off amount has come to surface.
The chief minister of a province whose family owns sugar mills, also got
loans written off under this scheme. The chief minister of another province
got loans written off outstanding against his ghee mills. Even some foreign
firms and multinational companies and a private bus service operating from
Lahore to different cities of Punjab were also extended this facility.
Earlier, soon after elections in October 2002, the then finance minister
Shaukat Aziz and his financial team at the State Bank approved a 'written
off loan scheme' in the same month (October 2002) after certain top
politicians of the government put them under pressure to ease financial
burden of loans from their business concerns.
In the garb of writing off non-performing loans of small businessmen, these
top guns quietly got billions of rupees written off. An official of the PAC
confirmed to The News that a report has been received containing the details
of loans written off during the last five years.
Copy of the report available with The News shows that soon after the October
2002 elections, General Pervez Musharraf's financial team decided to launch
a scheme to write off loans of the big guns as it set the minimum limit of
written off loans at Rs0.5 million. This 0.5 million condition deprived
small growers and small businessmen of this scheme and only big guns were
the beneficiaries.
The report said that prudent banking practices and prudential regulations
issued by the State Bank required securing loans through best guarantees,
viable credit approvals, proper documentations and effective monitoring and
follow up to avert flow of cases of non-performing loans. On the contrary,
cases of non-performing loans were allowed to be accumulated by the banks
and the SBP.
Instead of launching an effective campaign for recovery of such loans, the
SBP issued an incentive scheme to the banks/DFIs in October 2002 for writing
off NPL of the organizations showing "loss" for three years or more. The NPL
for the purpose of the scheme were divided into three categories: category A
included NPL up to Rs0.5 million, category B included NPLs ranging from
Rs0.5 million to Rs2.5 million whereas category C included more than Rs2.5
million. The big political families and top guns exploited the third
category of the written off loans to get billions of rupees outstanding
against them written off from the banks.
However, the report has pointed out that for the settlement of B and C
category cases the banks/DFIs were required to recover maximum possible
amounts on the basis of outstanding amount vis-‡-vis forced sale of
available assets. The purpose of the scheme was to clean the balance sheets
owned by banks/DFIs to make them ready for privatisation.
As a result of the scheme, the banks/DFIs settled over 50,000 cases
involving outstanding amount of RS74.879 billion whereas only Rs11 billion
could be recovered. The report claims that the scheme resulted in
realization of only 15.15% of the outstanding loans but major portion of the
loans was either written off or could not be recovered.
Meanwhile, the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) in its report to PAC has
opined that this practice resulted in encouraging defaulters with an
extraordinary financial burden on the public exchequer.
The report said the shocking written-off loans issue was raised with the
Ministry of Finance and SBP management. The matter was also discussed in
subsequent meetings in the recent past with the last one held in March 2007.
Meanwhile, an SBP official has argued that the writing off of loans in the
banking sector was under a policy guideline issued vide circular 29 and that
the losses mentioned by audit did not pertain to the SBP.
But, the AGP in its report has observed that such a huge write off may be
looked into which was made possible due to circular No 29 of SBP and
recoveries be made from the plunderers of public exchequer.
Talking to The News, Minister of State for Finance Omar Ayub strongly
defended the policy of the government to introduce a scheme to help the
borrowers settle their non-performing loans (NPLs) with the banks including
the National Bank.
He said that these NPLs were settled in the light of circular No 29 issued
by the State Bank. Omar said, a total of 50,414 borrowers availed the
facility of settling their loans under this scheme which he confirmed was
introduced in October 2002 after general elections.
Omar said that these decisions were taken by the boards of these banks that
were quite independent and were not under the influence of the government.
He said actually these non-performing loans were becoming a burden on the
banks itself so the decision was taken to rather settle them after offering
them a package.
Omar did not subscribe to the notion that top guns of the government
including chief ministers or ministers had got their loans written off under
this scheme. He also rejected the impression that these loans were written
off as a bribe both to the politicians and big businessmen.
When told that even NBP had written off loans outstanding against some top
politicians, Omar replied, "We need to understand that banks were deciding
those cases in their own business interests without caring for pressure from
any side".
Benazir’s security man ‘being harassed’: Khuhro
KARACHI: Leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly Nisar Khuhro on
Monday accused plainclothesmen of “harassing” Dr Zulfiqar Mirza, a member of
former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s security team. “Sleuths in
plainclothes are lurking around the house of Dr Mirza, chasing his car, and
asking his servants about his movements,” Khuhro said in a statement. He
alleged that such attempts were being made by the elements who could have
been involved in the attacks on Bhutto’s homecoming rally on October 18.
“Such attempts are tantamount to putting the security of Benazir Bhutto in
jeopardy,” he said. He said Sindh Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim had said
that Ms Bhutto’s rally would culminate at midnight, “which shows his
involvement in all this”. Rahim should also be questioned, Khuhro added. He
requested the Supreme Court to take suo motu notice of Rahim’s statement. He
urged human rights groups to raise their voice against this “open
terrorism”. staff report
The Situation in Pakistan, Myanmar and Other Matters
By Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad
Oct 22, 2007
AMB. KHALILZAD: Well, I wanted to make two points: One, that the
presidential statement today condemning the terrorist attack on the
procession that was taking Mrs. Bhutto back to her place in Karachi is
positive. It condemned terrorism in all its forms, but particularly this
terrorist act, and called on everyone to cooperate with the investigation
and to bring the perpetrators to justice. Of course, her return is very much
welcome to Pakistan. We believe that the democratization of Pakistan, the
democratic process that's unfolding in Pakistan is very important. Pakistan
is an important country -- a key country in the battle against extremism,
which uses terror as a tactic. And we're, as the United States, committed to
working with Pakistanis in the struggle against extremism and the terrorist
tactics that they use.
The second issue that I wanted to mention is the issue of Burma. We're
working closely with the secretary-general, with other countries -- China,
India, ASEAN states, our European allies -- to get Mr. Gambari into Burma as
soon as possible. The repression there continues. It's urgent that Mr.
Gambari be allowed to come into Burma to facilitate in the reconciliation
that is necessary and in the transition to a new order that's necessary for
Burma to become a normal place. And we are calling on all those with
influence to re- double their efforts to get Mr. Gambari there as quickly as
possible. The Burmese have said he can come, but at a later date in
November. We would like to see that happen as soon as possible. And I think
this is a view that many of us share. And as I said, we're working with the
secretary-general and very much appreciate his engagement and involvement
with the Burmese, with others, as we ourselves are working with countries
with influence with the Burmese to allow Mr. Gambari to get there as quickly
as possible.
Q Do you know, what in particular you would like Mr. Gambari to do there? Do
you want him to start the talks with Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi and the
government? I mean, what --
AMB. KHALILZAD: Well, that's one of the key things. There is a need for a
dialogue and the dialogue -- the leader of the opposition is Mrs. Aung San
Suu Kyi. She needs to be in circumstances where she can conduct the
conversations. The Burmese have appointed someone -- I believe the deputy
minister of labor -- to be a liaison with her. We don't know if any
discussions or negotiations have taken place. They need to take place and
Mr. Gambari can facilitate that.
There is also the need to have a representative of the U.N. Human Rights and
you people want to go in -- to be allowed to go in, to have access to
prisons; to release the remaining prisoners. Mr. Gambari can assist with all
of those. But the key issue is the issue of dialogue, reconciliation and the
start of a transition process.
Q Since Aung San Suu Kyi has only been able to talk so far to Gambari
outside of her jailers, would it be prudent of the U.S. to ask for Aung San
Suu Kyi to address the Security Council?
AMB. KHALILZAD: Well, we would like for her to be released. We would like
for her to be able to be in circumstances that she can consult with her
party members, with her leadership of the political movement, with experts
to be unencumbered and to be able to travel. It would be terrific for her to
be in circumstances to come to the United Nations and to address the
Security Council or other organs of this state.
Q (Off mike) -- on the terrorist attacks in Pakistan?
AMB. KHALILZAD: Yes, sir.
Q Ms. Bhutto has, as you know, over the weekend asked for international help
in finding out as to who conducted -- carried out those attacks. She
expressed no confidence in the local machinery to do it. Do you have
anything to say to that?
AMB. KHALILZAD: You know that the presidential statement called on everyone
to help with the investigation. And therefore, I believe they -- everyone
should offer the help that's necessary to have as thorough an
examination/investigation as possible to determine what happened, who is
responsible and to bring those responsible to justice.
Q Ambassador, ahead of the Darfur peace talks starting in Libya in five days
time, and the briefing you're getting on Wednesday, are you satisfied with
the cooperation of the Sudanese government in making land available and so
on and their cooperation generally on the deployment?
AMB. KHALILZAD: No. I'm not satisfied with the cooperation. One, as you
know, the force is -- the hybrid force is predominately African.
Seventy-five percent of the force that's proposed is African. Over 90
percent of the ground element is African. But the force also is capable that
is being proposed. So it's very important that the government in Sudan gives
an affirmative answer to the package that has been proposed. The African
Union has said yes to it. And Mr. Konare and others are working to convince
President Bashir and his government to accept this force. And this proposal
-- the hybrid is under Chapter Seven. Cooperation with it is required by the
government of Sudan. And we believe it's very important for that to take
place as quickly as possible.
Also, of course, as you know there is a political meeting that will take
place. We call on all relevant elements from the rebels to participate. The
eyes of the world will be on this meeting. Everyone must have a ceasefire
immediately when the meeting starts -- the government and rebel side. Anyone
who doesn't participate or does not observe a ceasefire will have to answer
to the international community, to the people of Darfur and to the people of
Sudan.
Q Mr. Ambassador, the interior minister of Pakistan today rejected Ms.
Bhutto's call for an international investigation of the attack. Does the
United States support an international investigation? Do you support her
call?
AMB. KHALILZAD: We support what is in the PRSD. You can read it for
yourself.
Q That's not very specific! It's -- (off mike).
AMB. KHALILZAD: If you will let me finish --
Q (Off mike.)
AMB. KHALILZAD: If you will let me finish -- thank you.
We support a credible investigation and we support an investigation that
will get to the bottom of what has happened and for perpetrators to be
brought to justice. And whatever help Pakistan needs to achieve that goal
should be provided.
Q With the Hariri assassination, he was a former prime minister when he was
assassinated and this is similar. Why don't you call for an international
tribunal similar to Lebanon?
AMB. KHALILZAD: Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves. The situations are
very different. There is a -- the government wants an investigation. They
targeted -- the principal target, Mrs. Bhutto, is asking for some
international assistance with the investigation that Pakistan is doing. They
are working on this in Pakistan. From where we are at this point, is what we
have stated in the PRSD and the importance of getting a credible
investigation that gets to the bottom of what happened, that identifies the
perpetrators and brings them to justice.
Q (Off mike) -- are talking if the U.S. offered support or are you talking
something more international -- (off mike).
AMB. KHALILZAD: No. We're not there yet. I'm just saying we're talking in
terms of the principle at this point.
Q (Off mike) -- Do you think --
AMB. KHALILZAD: The president of the entire Security Council is waiting.
Ambassador Christian, please, it's all yours.
Thank you.
Is Imran Khan drifting toward Mullahism?
By: Iqbal Tareen Virginia, USA - October 22, 2007
It is funny that Imran Khan, Chaudhry Shujaat, Fatima Bhutto, Chaudhry
Pervez Illahi, Ejazul-ul-Haq, and others never blamed leadership and
occupants of Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) for deaths of more than 100 men, women,
and children. Using the same logic that Imran Khan is using against Benazir
Bhutto, he should have also blamed Chief Justice Inftikhar Chaudhry and
himself for loss of innocent lives during the tragic event of May 12th in
Karachi. It is ironic how Imran Khan has subscribed to the same line of
argument that MQM used against him and Chief Justice Inftikhar Chaudhry for
tragic deaths resulting out of May 12th incident.
As weird as his logic seems, I am also surprised Mr. Khan has forgotten to
blame more than 18,000 victims of earth quake hitting Kashmir, Islamabad,
NWFP, and other areas in and around Pakistan for their chosen presence in
the affected areas. Why not to blame those people as well? After all they
were living in seismic areas bound to face the calamity they experienced?
Taking the reasoning of Mr. Khan and bunch of others to the next level, I
argue that every day we use public or private means of transportation, which
pose inherent threats risking our lives. As we all know it does not have to
be our fault to be victim of a fatal accident. When accidents happen shall
we blame the victim of an accident as prescribed by Imran Khan’s logic or
the perpetrator of such a tragedy? Common sense suggests that we place
responsibility of such a human loss on the perpetrator rather than a victim
of the tragedy. But not in the Mr. Khan’s book, which is shared by Chaudhary
Shujaat, Pevez Illahi, Fatima Bhutto, Arbab Rahim, Ejaz-ul-Haq, Shaikh
Rashid, and others.
If the law of the land and insurance companies used the same logic that Mr.
Khan and other Benazir Bhutto haters are pushing, we will be living in
upside down world. The killers will be set free and the victims will be
cited with charges of violations by their coffins.
Come on folks! Do not let your anger and hate against one person eat-away
your common sense. Pakistan has been invaded. The land you live on has lost
its sovereignty because some fanatics are using Pakistan as a launching pad
for their inhuman ends and objectives. Not engaging against the forces of
hate and destruction, People like Imran Khan are endorsing their activities
within and without Pakistan. By letting them use Pakistani soil to conduct
their brutalities, Pakistan has practically and legally entered into a
global conflict without a formal declaration. This matter is much more
serious than some of us are able and willing to recognize.
When you throw a shoe in the beehive, you should be ready to face avalanche
of stings. Instead of blaming the world why don’t we cleanup our act? Take
back your country and nobody will dare to treat you like dirt. As far as
Imran Khan and Fatima Bhutto are concerned, I have sincere pieces of advice
for them.
Imran Khan had a very promising political career ahead of him. He was able
to convert quite a few politically serious individuals I personally know. I
request him not to drift into a religious extremist direction. If he
continued going into that direction, he will soon be treated like a “Mullah
Imran Khan” rather than a potentially progressive leader who could
positively impact the lives of millions of innocent people of Pakistan.
He alone is owner of his own destiny. It is up to him to charter a role he
deems fit for himself. The road he has chosen has been travelled long before
his birth in politics by people like Mullah Omar. He must take a divorce
from people like Hameed Gul who live in their own little world.
As far as Fatima Bhutto is concerned, she might have entered the dirty ring
by compulsion and burden of false expectations. Being daughter of a true
hero of masses, she should not toe the line prescribed by agencies who might
have spelled a shadow during her days in the crib.
Dear Fatima, defy vicious circle, recognize the true killers of your dad,
and break free from indoctrinated upbringing. You can be the next hope for
millions if you travel the road destined for you and not the detour designed
by deception.
Here is the list of incidents Imran Khan failed to include in his citations
blaming the victims instead of sources and cause of tragedies:
Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001, Columbine Massacre, Oklahoma City
Bombing (1995)
Great San Francisco Earthquake, World Trade Center Bombing (1993), The
Dustbowl (1930s),
Chicago Fire (1871), Bombing of USS Cole (2000), The Waco Tragedy (1993)
Also casualties caused by natural and manmade tragedies as follows:
NATURAL EVENTS
Avalanche, Cold, Disease Drought , Earthquake, Fire, Flood, Hail, Heat,
Limnic eruption, Landslide, Mudslide, Sink hole, Solar flare, Storm surge,
Freak Wave, Thunderstorm ,Tornado Tsunami , Volcanic eruption, Waterspout,
and Winter storm.
MAN-MADE EVENTS
Arson, CBRNs , Civil disorder , Crime , Dam failure , Hazardous materials ,
Nuclear blast , Power outage, Public relations crisis, Radiation
Contamination, Shipwreck, Telecommunication outage, Terrorism, and War
Where the Jihad Lives Now
Islamic militants have spread beyond their tribal bases, and have the
run of an unstable, nuclear-armed nation.
By Ron Moreau - NEWSWEEK October 22, 2007
Benazir Bhutto was worried she would not survive the day. It was, for her,
to be a moment of joyous return after eight years of exile, but also an hour
of great peril. Just before she left Dubai for Pakistan on Thursday, Oct.
18, Bhutto directed that a letter be hand-delivered to Pervez Musharraf, the
embattled Pakistani autocrat with whom she had negotiated a tenuous
political alliance. If anything happens to me, please investigate the
following individuals in your government, she wrote, according to an account
given to NEWSWEEK by her husband, Asif Ali Zardari. Bhutto, Pakistan's
former prime minister, then proceeded to name several senior security
officials she considered to be enemies, Zardari said. Principal among those
she identified, according to another supporter who works for her Pakistan
People's Party, was Ejaz Shah, the
head of Pakistan's shadowy Intelligence Bureau, which runs domestic
surveillance in somewhat the way M.I.5 does in Britain. Shah, a longtime
associate of Musharraf's, is believed by Bhutto supporters to have Islamist
sympathies. And Bhutto had boldly challenged Pakistan's Muslim extremists,
declaring before her arrival that "the terrorists are trying to take over my
country, and we have to stop them."
Bhutto was certainly prescient about the threat. On Thursday, as her
motorcade inched along a parade route guarded by roughly 20,000 Pakistani
security forces, one or more suicide bombers set off twin explosions that
killed at least 134 bystanders and police, and injured 450 others. The bombs
narrowly missed Bhutto, who had ducked into her armored truck minutes
before. Shaken but uninjured, she was rushed to
safety. Musharraf's government quickly fingered Baitullah Mehsud, a longtime
Taliban supporter and director of some of the most lethal training
facilities for suicide bombers in the far-off mountains of Waziristan.
Mehsud had reportedly threatened Bhutto. She and her husband, however,
pointed much closer to home. "We do not buy that it was Mehsud," Zardari
told NEWSWEEK. There was no immediate evidence that Shah was connected to
the bombing. At a news conference the next day, though, Bhutto noted that
the streetlights had mysteriously been turned off on her parade route and
said: "I am not accusing the government. I am accusing people, certain
individuals who abuse their positions. Who abuse their powers."
Whoever the real culprits turn out to be, the truth is that Pakistan's
government has only itself to blame for the carnage in Karachi. Pakistani
leaders created the Islamist monster that now operates with near impunity
throughout the country. Militant Islamist groups that were originally
recruited, trained and armed by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence
agency (ISI) have since become Islamabad's deadliest enemies. Twice they
have nearly succeeded in assassinating Musharraf, who was once among their
strongest supporters. In the last six years extremists have killed more than
1,000 Pakistani troops.
Today no other country on earth is arguably more dangerous than Pakistan. It
has everything Osama bin Laden could ask for: political instability, a
trusted network of radical Islamists, an abundance of angry young
anti-Western recruits, secluded training areas, access to state-of-the-art
electronic technology, regular air service to the West and security services
that don't always do what they're supposed to do. (Unlike in Iraq or
Afghanistan, there also aren't thousands of American troops hunting down
would-be terrorists.) Then there's the country's large and growing nuclear
program. "If you were to look around the world for where Al Qaeda is going
to find its bomb, it's right in their backyard," says Bruce Riedel, the
former senior director for South Asia on the National Security Council.
The conventional story about Pakistan has been that it is an unstable
nuclear power, with distant tribal areas in terrorist hands. What is new,
and more frightening, is the extent to which Taliban and Qaeda elements have
now turned much of the country, including some cities, into a base that
gives jihadists more room to maneuver, both in Pakistan and beyond.
In recent months, as Musharraf has grown more and more unpopular after eight
years of rule, Islamists have been emboldened. The homegrown militants who
have hidden Al Qaeda's leaders since the end of 2001 are no longer
restricted to untamed mountain villages along the border. These Islamist
fighters now operate relatively freely in cities like Karachi-a process the
U.S. and Pakistani governments call "Talibanization." Hammered by suicide
bombers and Iraq-style IEDs and reluctant to make war on its countrymen,
Pakistan's demoralized military seems incapable of stopping the jihadists
even in the cities. "Until I return to fight, I'll feel safe and relaxed
here," Abdul Majadd, a
Taliban commander who was badly wounded this summer during a fire fight
against British troops in Afghanistan, told NEWSWEEK recently after he was
evacuated to Karachi for emergency care.
Militancy is woven into the fabric of Pakistani society. At independence in
1947, the country's whisky-swilling founder, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, used Islam
to forge a sense of national identity. Since then the various military
dictators who have periodically ruled the country have found jihad to be a
convenient means of distracting their citizens and furthering their
foreign-policy aims. Gen. Zia ul-Haq turned Pakistan into a base for the
mujahedin waging war on the Soviets in Afghanistan-and won billions in
American aid in the process. In the 1990s, after the Soviet defeat, generals
like Musharraf dispatched
thousands of those fighters to wage a guerrilla campaign in Kashmir. Many
trained across the border in Afghanistan, in the same camps that Al Qaeda
had set up under the Taliban.
After 9/11 Musharraf promised Washington that he would cut off support for
such groups, including the Taliban. Early on, he authorized the arrests of
several top Qaeda leaders in Pakistani cities, including Khalid Sheikh
Mohammed, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, and Abu Zubaydah, a top Qaeda
organizer. But Musharraf's efforts have always been somewhat halfhearted,
constrained by the deep sympathies that many
of his countrymen have for jihadists. For decades Pakistanis were taught
that the guerrillas were Muslim heroes, fighting for national honor and
security. Such loyalties cannot be turned off like a tap. Several of the
militants' onetime spymasters, both inside and outside the government,
maintain links to their former charges. The security services will go after
certain figures-particularly foreign Qaeda fighters-but ask others
simply to lie low. Many officials-even many ordinary citizens-still think
the jihadists should be preserved for future use as a strategic weapon,
especially against India, long after America's War on Terror is over.
The safe haven provided by Pakistan has already had dire effects on U.S. and
NATO efforts to fight the resurgent Taliban next door in Afghanistan.
Taliban fighters now pretty much come and go as they please inside Pakistan.
Their sick and injured get patched up in private hospitals there. Guns and
supplies are readily available, and in the winter, when fighting
traditionally dies down in Afghanistan, thousands retire to the country's
thriving madrassas to study the Qur'an. Some of the brainier operatives
attend courses in computer technology, video production and even English.
Far from keeping a low profile, the visiting fighters attend services at
local mosques, where after prayers they speak to the congregation,
soliciting donations to support the war against the West. "Pakistan is like
your shoulder that supports your RPG," Taliban commander Mullah Momin Ahmed
told NEWSWEEK, barely a month before a U.S. airstrike killed him last
September in Afghanistan's eastern Ghazni province. "Without it you couldn't
fight. Thank God Pakistan is not against us."
Dozens of Taliban commanders have moved their wives and children to
Pakistan, where they live in the suburbs of cities like Peshawar and
Islamabad. This keeps them out of the reach of Afghan authorities, who have
been known to arrest relatives in order to track down guerrilla fighters.
Mullah Shabir Ahmad is a member of the Taliban's 30-man ruling
council, or shura. He's moved his family to a modest neighborhood of nearly
identical brick and mud-brick houses in Quetta. Inside his home he shows a
visiting NEWSWEEK reporter a room filled with new bolts of cloth, Ramadan
gifts from the city's Taliban sympathizers. He spends roughly half the year
inside Pakistan, shuttling between Quetta, Karachi, Peshawar and the tribal
belt to raise funds, recruit new fighters and plot strategy with other
commanders.
The insurgents have no centralized supply system. Instead, each senior
provincial commander operates his own network. Din Mohammad, a tall, portly
man in his mid-30s, looks after the needs of insurgents who fight for
commander Gul Agha in southern Helmand province. With cash from Afghanistan
and from his own fund-raising efforts he buys shoes and warm clothes for
Taliban fighters, walkie-talkies and satellite phones-even weapons,
explosives and remote-control devices. The benign stuff he trucks into
Afghanistan openly. The lethal items are hidden in shipments of clothes and
food or under the baggage of Afghan refugees on their way home. Some Taliban
chiefs prefer to shop for themselves. Earlier this month Mullah Rehmat, a
Taliban commander, rested at a youth hostel in Peshawar while he waited for
the master gunsmiths of Dera Adam Khel village to finish a $750 sniper rifle
he'd ordered.
The contrast to 2002 is striking. Back then, in the first flush of
Musharraf's crackdown on extremists, a NEWSWEEK reporter met Agha Jan, a
former senior Taliban Defense Ministry official, in an orchard outside the
city of Quetta. A nervous Jan recounted how he had to change homes every two
nights for fear of capture, and he fled when some local villagers
approached. Jan now has a house outside Quetta, where he lives when he's not
fighting with Taliban forces across the border in his native Zabul province.
Reporters in Peshawar, a strategic Pakistani border city some 50 miles east
of the historic Khyber Pass and the Afghan border, say it's not unusual
these days to receive phone calls from visiting Taliban commanders offering
interviews, or asking where to
find a cheap hotel, a good restaurant or a new cell phone.
Last August, a NEWSWEEK reporter received a phone call from the spokesman
for a senior Taliban leader, inviting him for dinner at a popular restaurant
in Peshawar. The reporter replied that he was already there. As he looked
around, he saw the smiling jihadist sitting a few tables away. They shared a
kilo of Afghan barbecue as the spokesman confidently talked about the
Taliban's resurgence in Afghanistan and how comfortable they felt operating
inside Pakistani cities and in the frontier tribal area. "The biggest chink
in Musharraf's armor is his failure to move against the Taliban,
particularly in the cities," says Samina Ahmed, the South Asia director of
the International Crisis Group in Islamabad. "The brains, the ones who plan
the operations, are not necessarily in the boonies or in the sticks, they're
in cities like Quetta. Can he pick them up? Easily."
Taliban fighters say they are careful not to antagonize their hosts; the
attacks against Pakistani troops have generally been conducted by Pakistani
tribals, sometimes with the support of Qaeda operatives. But that's a fine
distinction. "If you take away that support the Taliban are getting from
across the border in Pakistan, it would be much easier for U.S., NATO and
Afghan government forces to confront the Taliban inside Afghanistan," says
Ahmed. Each group may have its own agenda, but they all share a visceral
hatred of America and its regional allies-including Musharraf. The Taliban
also work closely with Qaeda leaders in the tribal regions, planning attacks
together and pooling their skills.
The Taliban presence began to grow out of control after Musharraf, his Army
bloodied by incursions into South Wa-ziristan, cut a peace deal with the
tribal region's Mehsud clan in 2005. He made another such truce with tribal
militants in North Waziristan in 2006. The ceasefire agreements were
publicly announced as treaties with tribal elders. Nothing could be farther
from the truth. The deals were made directly with the militant leaders,
their frontmen or terrified tribal elders who did the militants' bidding. As
a result they were worthless: the militants had no intention of keeping
their promise to stop the passage of arms and fighters across the Afghan
border. While the Army halted offensive operations and dismantled
checkpoints, the militants helped the Taliban and Al Qaeda regroup and
reinfiltrate back into Afghanistan.
Those forces, all working together, have brought the Afghan jihad home to
Pakistan. Within the tribes' ancient mud-walled fortresses they run training
courses for insurgent recruits and suicide bombers. Some graduates travel to
Afghanistan to fight beside the Taliban. Others will stay in the tribal area
to fight the Pakistani Army, while others are sent out to hit targets in
places like Karachi. Several terrorist plots in Britain have been traced
back to the tribal areas.
Now the Pakistani government is bearing the brunt of the attacks. The threat
turned critical in July, when more than 100 militants died in a weeklong
shoot-out with government forces at Islamabad's Red Mosque. In retaliation,
tribal suicide bombers have managed to penetrate highly guarded military
facilities in the capital, the Army headquarters at Rawalpindi and
elsewhere, killing scores. Authorities say that until the
showdown, the Red Mosque had served as a way station and munitions depot for
hundreds of fighters shuttling between Pakistan's cities and the tribal
areas. It reopened Oct. 3, and preachers there are once again denouncing
Musharraf and his partnership with the West. A similar message was delivered
to Bhutto before she came home. Last week, speaking by satellite phone from
the South Waziristan tribal area, a senior militant commander named Haji
Muhamad Omar called Bhutto an agent of Washington. "She doesn't come back by
her own choice. The United States and Britain are bringing her back to fight
against the mujahedin," he said.
The militants dominate in areas beyond the tribal areas as well. Armed
groups have effectively seized control in places like the picturesque Swat
Valley, where a jihadi leader named Mullah Fazlullah rides a black horse and
commands hundreds of men under the noses of a nearby Pakistani Army division
that seldom leaves its barracks. Peshawar is perhaps the most important
production and distribution center for Taliban and other Islamist material.
Jihadi CD and DVD shops abound. One small shop features large posters of the
notorious Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah Akhund, who was killed in
Helmand earlier this year, and pictures of Guant?namo inmates in their
orange jumpsuits behind barbed wire.
The Afghan refugee camps around Peshawar, meanwhile, have become vast
jihadist sanctuaries. The Jalozai and Shamshatu camps, each housing some
100,000 Afghan refugees, date back to the war against the Soviets.
Complaints from the Afghan government have forced Islamabad and the U.N.
High Commissioner for Refugees to begin the long process of emptying
Jalozai, a job that's supposed to be completed by next spring. Many of the
camp's high-walled compounds are already abandoned. But few Jalozai
residents are returning to Afghanistan when they leave the camps. Most are
settling in Peshawar or other towns in the vicinity, which will allow the
Taliban more space to operate in. A local mullah was arrested in Jalozai
earlier this year after three Pakistani militants blew themselves up while
using his house as a bomb factory.
The Shamshatu camp, just south of Peshawar, is the personal fiefdom of the
notorious Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. His guerrillas, the
Hizb-i-Islami ("Party of Islam"), operate mainly in Afghanistan's Kunar
province, but Shamshatu is their power base, in effect an autonomous enclave
within Pakistan. Like Jalozai, the place resembles a sprawling, labyrinthine
Afghan village of mud-brick houses surrounded by high mud walls, and it's
ruled by strict, Taliban-style Islamic law. Music is forbidden-even musical
ringtones on cell phones. So is tobacco. Women are banned from venturing
outside except in the company of a male relative. (There are girls' schools,
though: unlike his Taliban allies, Hekmatyar believes in women's education.)
Shamshatu contains high-security areas that are out of bounds even to camp
residents. Camp residents say Hekmatyar's men run private jails in these
off- limits areas. Recently a woman who lived in the camp dared to go
shopping alone. When she entered a small electronics shop, gunmen followed
her. They forced the shopkeeper to close his store, detained the woman and
telephoned her husband. "If you won't kill her, we will,"
they told him, before handing her over with a warning that if they caught
her again without an escort, they would kill her. Then they confiscated the
shopkeeper's goods and threw him out of the camp.
Musharraf says his forces are doing everything possible to halt the
jihadists' spread. Pakistan's president has shown he can deliver when he
must. Late last February, just as Vice President Dick Cheney arrived in
Islamabad to pressure Musharraf to fight harder against the Islamists,
Pakistani military-intelligence agents in Quetta suddenly captured Mullah
Obaidullah Akhund. As the Taliban's Defense minister and one of Mullah
Omar's key deputies, he was the highest-ranking Taliban official the
Pakistanis had ever taken into custody. A couple of months earlier, Pakistan
reportedly informed U.S. forces in Afghanistan that another senior Taliban
leader, Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani, was heading into Afghanistan from
Quetta. A U.S. airstrike promptly killed him, just inside Afghanistan. But
those cases remain exceptional.
U.S. government officials say that Musharraf's government still has tight
control over the nation's nuclear-weapons program. Still, radicals would not
need to steal a whole bomb in order to create havoc. Pakistan has never made
a public accounting of its nuclear materials, and last year its Atomic
Energy Agency began publishing ads in newspapers
instructing the public about how to recognize radioactive materials and
their symbols. The ads were quickly withdrawn after they incited fears that
fissile material had gone missing. But Pervez Hoodbhoy, a noted nuclear
physicist at Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad, says outside experts
don't really know how much highly enriched uranium Pakistan has produced in
the past and how much remains in existing stocks. "No one has a real idea
about that," he says. "That means that stuff could have gotten out. Little
bits here or there. But we really don't know."
In Washington, a senior administration official involved in counterterrorism
said U.S. intelligence is chronically fearful that Islamists might get hold
of nuclear material, equipment or know-how in Pakistan. He recalled that
after 9/11, a group of rogue Pakistani nuclear scientists met with Osama bin
Laden. "Given that history, we continue to look at this issue very closely,"
he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of
the issue.
It's not surprising that Pakistani authorities might give the Taliban
special treatment. The country's intelligence officers and military men have
maintained close personal relations with senior Taliban leaders ever since
the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s. Western military and
diplomatic officials say they doubt that Pakistan is still
actively assisting Afghan insurgents-but they don't think it's trying very
hard to stop them, either. "I'm not delusional," says a Western military
official in Islamabad, not wishing to be quoted by name on such a sensitive
topic. "Their [the Pakistani government's] guys are in contact with the
Talibs. They may not be assisting them, but they aren't busting them,
either." A Western diplomat, speaking off the record
because he is not authorized to represent his government's views to the
media, says, "I'm sure there are intelligence officials, active and retired,
who have dealt with the Taliban in the past and still support their cause.
That's the power of personal relationships over time. You don't cut those
off abruptly."
The Taliban war effort is also greatly aided by dozens of "retired" former
officials in Mullah Omar's defunct Taliban government who now reside in
Pakistan, some armed with Pakistani national identity cards. The Taliban
don't think they're putting anything past the ISI-"the black snake," as they
call the agency. Mullah Shabir Ahmad, a provincial commander, spends upwards
of six months of the year inside Pakistan. "The Pakistanis know what we eat
for lunch and dinner," he says. Mullah Momin Ahmed, visiting his family in
Quetta shortly before his death in September, agreed: "Pakistan knows
everything about us, but it seems to ignore us." Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad,
the military's chief spokesman, says that Pakistani forces have arrested and
deported 1,500 Taliban to Afghanistan, "but many somehow return."
Until now, most Pakistanis seem to have remained impervious to the jihadist
threat, despite the evidence around them. Musharraf himself has seemed
preoccupied with other matters. "He has failed to understand the danger of
insurgency on both sides of the border, and how to bring the Pakistani
people along with him to counter that threat," says retired Pakistani Army
Lt. Gen. Talat Masood. "He has been too obsessed with perpetuating his
power." Instead, according to Masood and other observers, the president has
allowed Pakistanis to lull themselves into thinking that the battle against
the jihadists is Musharraf's and America's problem, not theirs. "The
greatest danger is that the whole Pakistani nation, including senior
politicians, seems to be saying that
this is not our watch, this is not our war," says Masood. "Even the Taliban
presence in the cities seems to have an acceptance."
Few Pakistanis have any desire to live under the militants' rule. The
trouble is, the country's moderate alternatives have become almost as
unpopular. Musharraf won a third term as president by a unanimous Electoral
Assembly vote on Oct. 6 (heavily boycotted by the opposition). In a recent
nationwide poll by the International Republican Institute, however, he
earned a dismal 21 percent approval rating. Bhutto fared little better,
scoring a pitiful 28 percent. Many Pakistanis were appalled by her
willingness to cut a deal with Musharraf so that he would allow her to
return from exile.
True, the survey was taken before last week's attack. In the wake of the
deadliest terrorist bombing in Pakistan's history, the public might rally
once again to her support. "She won't be deterred," her husband told
NEWSWEEK, describing Bhutto as "composed" in a phone call after the attack.
"She won't be taken hostage by a small minority of people." But that
minority of Islamists isn't so small any longer-and it's ready for a long
war.
The state within a state continues to thrive
(In the national interest)
Kamal Siddiqi, October 22, 2007
The blame game has started. Politicians are blaming the government, while Ms
Bhutto is specifically pointing her finger at certain elements within the
government for last week's bomb blasts in Karachi. Important functionaries
of the state have been indirectly named.
Thankfully in Pakistan people are not hanged on mere accusations. Not yet.
But the government has to get serious about trying to find and punish those
who are behind such incidents. Present day indications are that the
government is unclear and unsure about what to do when such things happen.
This incident left 140 dead till last count and hundreds others injured —
many of whom will die over the next couple of weeks mostly from the serious
burn injuries that they have suffered. Others who recover may have to live
their lives with permanent disabilities. Another thing that became quite
clear in the incident was the total lack of planning on the part of the
authorities to deal with such a situation when it arises. Despite the
warnings given, the government and its disaster management wizards were
nowhere to be seen when the tragedy struck. Thus people had to fend for
themselves.
Is it not surprising that while the government has millions to spend on
building flyovers and underpasses, it has little left over to buy and
maintain a set of ambulances and proper emergency services in Karachi. We
can build a multi-million rupee tower in Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Centre
but if one was to look for a wheelchair there, it would be a miracle to find
one that is not damaged or in poor shape.
Coming back to the blast, the real cost of the attack goes beyond the death
and injuries caused. Such was the intensity of the blast that some people
say they have lost their hearing, while others complain of a permanent
ringing sound in their heads. And yet a man with so powerful a bomb was able
to enter a crowd and blow himself up. The daring of the people that did this
is a direct challenge to the government. And yet, the government is
unwilling to rise to the occasion.
Police officials along with others associated with security are arguing
whether it was a suicide attack, a time bomb or a remote control device.
Others complain that the jammers which the government provided were not
working. Yet more question why the streetlights on that section of the road
were shut off when the PPP convoy was passing through. Conspiracy theories
abound.
These are largely academic debates. The fact is that despite the much
publicized threat to Ms Bhutto and her convoy, and the tall claims made by
local police officials that they had left no stone unturned, a carnage took
place on one of the city's most important thoroughfares. And the government
is still groping in the dark about who the perpetrators of this heinous
crime could be.
In typical Pakistani style, no one will be sacked. Not even the person
charged with the responsibility of ensuring the security of the convoy.
There will be much hue and cry and then it will be as business as usual.
Till the next blast. In all this, valuable ground is being surrendered to
the militants. People are now fearful of going to political rallies. There
will come a time when they will be fearful to cast their votes. Democracy
will be sabotaged.
Why is it that the government almost never manages to arrest those involved
in such crimes. Is there no system in place to trace out those who were the
masterminds? The Sharae Faisal bomb site, complained one foreign journalist,
was opened within hours of the incident taking place. Were there no clues to
be collected, no bits of evidence that could be found to trace those who
were behind this? Why is it that in other countries, such sites of blasts
are closed for days as experts scour for scraps and clues? Are our police so
efficient that no such exercise was undertaken. Or is it that they don't
care?
A policeman with rather questionable credentials has been appointed to
investigate. By the looks of it, neither the government nor the police are
serious about finding who was behind the attack. We employ thousands of
intelligence personnel who harass common citizens and routinely target and
pick up many. Who judges their performance and what happens when, as in this
case, there is a major intelligence failure? Does any one get punished.
Possibly not. But we can't talk about this. These are state secrets.
What is more frightening is that while General Musharraf seems keen in
restarting a political process that he himself cut short in 1999, there are
some within his government who are keen that it should remain dormant. What
is he doing about this? This brings one to the most important question. Who
is in charge of Pakistan today? Clearly when Ms Bhutto was PM last time
round, despite all the tough talk and operation in Sindh, she was not in
control. That is why, through a very obvious series of incidents and moves,
her brother was killed and her husband blamed for it.
In present day Pakistan, is General Musharraf in control? If he is, what
does he know of the involvement of some state players in the bomb blast of
last week? What is clear is that as the situation in Waziristan and the
Tribal Areas worsens and fighting intensifies, the militants will divert the
government's attention by attacking in parts of Pakistan. As Ms Bhutto
rightly pointed out in her press conference on last Friday, the real
sufferers of such action will be the common people of Pakistan who will die
in the blasts that follow.
So far our evidence suggests that the government is reluctant or unable to
trace those who are behind these blasts. Those that are caught sit happy in
jail and the government is not quite keen on following up on their cases.
This makes one wonder where is this all leading to. Are we winning or losing
the war on terror. General Musharraf calls it's a war between the moderates
and extremists. It's not as simple as that. In between there are other wars
as well. The war between those who have power and those who don't. Those who
can get away with murder and those who are punished despite being innocent.
The privileged and the deprived.
As the world marked World Poverty Day last week, most in Pakistan remained
silent. Its best to forget one's failures. In the rally to welcome Ms
Bhutto, the people who came from all over Pakistan kept on talking about
only two things: unemployment and inflation. These are the biggest
challenges facing the government but little has been done to address them.
Prime minister Shaukat Aziz keeps on talking fondly about the trickle down
effect without realizing that its not working. And the bad news is: things
are not going to get better any time soon. Email:
kamal.siddiqi@thenews.com.pk
UN Council blasts Karachi attack
Oct 23, 2007: UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations (UN) Security Council has
strongly condemned last week’s suicide bombings that targeted former
Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto in Karachi and urged all states to help
bring the perpetrators to justice.
In a non-binding statement, the 15-member body "underlines the need to bring
perpetrators, organisers and sponsors of this reprehensible act of terrorism
to justice and urges all states... to co-operate actively with the Pakistani
authorities in this regard."
The council reiterated that "any acts of terrorism are criminal and
unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by
whomsoever committed," added the statement which was read out by the
council’s president for this month, Ghana’s UN Ambassador Leslie Christian.
Pakistani authorities suspect that two suicide bombers were involved in the
attack that killed 139 people during Bhutto’s homecoming parade in Karachi.
Bhutto has called for international help in the inquiry into the bombings,
Pakistan’s deadliest suicide attack.
UN Condemns Terrorist Attack in Pakistan
By EDITH M. LEDERER
UNITED NATIONS (AP)
— The U.N. Security Council on Monday strongly condemned
last week's suicide attack on Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto's
homecoming procession as a "heinous act of terrorism" and urged all
countries to cooperate in bringing the perpetrators to justice.
The Thursday bombing of Bhutto's cavalcade in Karachi, hours after she
returned from eight years in exile, killed 136 people, wounded hundreds more
and raised the question of whether large campaign rallies would be allowed
ahead of upcoming parliamentary elections.
"The Security Council condemns in the strongest terms the bomb attacks ...
and expresses its deep sympathy and condolences to the victims of this
heinous act of terrorism and their families, and to the people and
government of Pakistan," the statement said.
The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, said Bhutto's
return "is very much welcome to Pakistan."
"Pakistan is an important country, a key country in the battle against
extremism which uses terror as a tactic, and the United States is committed
to working with Pakistanis in the struggle against extremism and their
terrorist tactics that they use," he said.
US supports credible probe
By Our Correspondent
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 22:
The ambassador of the United States to the United
Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, on Monday underscored American support for
‘credible investigation’ into Thursday’s assassination attempt on Pakistan
People’s Party (PPP) chairperson Benazir Bhutto, and asked the international
community to afford every possible help to the investigators.
Talking to reporters following the UN Security Council meeting, Mr Khalilzad
said: “We support a credible investigation that will get to the bottom of
what has happened so that perpetrators of the attacks be brought to
justice.”
The US ambassador called upon the international community to help “Pakistan
achieve that objective” in the light of the United Nations Security
Council’s presidential statement adopted earlier in which “the Security
Council reiterated its determination to combat all forms of terrorism in
accordance with its responsibilities under the Charter of the United
Nations.”
PPP asks Govt to remove restrictions on Bhutto's movement
Islamabad (PTI): Former premier Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party on
Tuesday asked the Government to immediately remove restrictions that prevent
her from going abroad, saying such curbs are "illegal and unconstitutional".
The PPP spokesman, Farhatullah Babar, said the government had put her name
on the Exit Control List (ECL), thus preventing her from travelling outside
Pakistan.
Upon her return to the country last week after eight years in self-exile,
Bhutto had said that she intend to travel abroad from time to time to meet
her husband and children.
Describing the government action as "illegal, unconstitutional and against
fundamental rights", Babar said the PPP has sent a letter to the interior
ministry to remove Bhutto's name from the list.
The letter said Bhutto had not been informed about the inclusion of her name
on the list and asked that it be removed "forthwith".
The PPP's demand came a day after Bhutto and senior leaders of the ruling
PML-Q traded angry charges over the probe into the suicide attack on her
motorcade in Karachi and the government's plan to ban rallies ahead of the
general election to be held by mid-January.
Nearly 140 people were killed and hundreds injured in two blasts targeting
Bhutto's convoy hours after she returned to Pakistan. Her homecoming was
facilitated by an ordinance issued by President Pervez Musharraf to drop
graft charges against her and other political leaders.
Bhutto has said she is not satisfied with the conduct of the investigation
into the attack and claimed three senior government officials, who she has
not publicly named, are behind attempts to assassinate her. She also
demanded that the government should seek the help of international experts
in the probe.
The government has rejected her demands and allegations and said that only
Pakistani investigators will conduct the probe.
Reacting to Bhutto's claims that he was "protecting" elements involved in
attacks on her, PML-Q president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain suggested that
Bhutto's husband Asif Ali Zardari had masterminded the blasts to gain public
sympathy for the PPP chairperson.
PPP rejects reports of security lapse on part of Police or PPP guards
responsible for assassination attempt
Islamabad, October 21, 2007: Pakistan Peoples Party has rejected reports in
a section of the press that security lapse on part of Police and PPP guards
let to the assassination attempt resulting in the mass murder of 140
innocent people and injuries to 350 more.
In a statement today a spokesperson of the PPP said that the only reason the
bombers and car for the bomb attack succeeded was because the light had been
shut on Shahra e Faisal and consequently the approaching car and bombers
could not be spotted and were hidden in the dark.
"The PPP views the lack of lights at Shahra e Faisal as a deliberate
sabotage act to facilitate the approach of the bombers".
The PPP has asked for DIG Manzoor Mughal to be taken out of the
investigation. DIG Mughal was the officer present when Asif Ali Zardari was
nearly killed under Police torture in 1999 and was only saved due to the
intervention by the courts, the media, the diplomatic community and the then
Governor.
The PPP has given a panel to the regime of police officers from whom the
panel of inquiry should be picked.
The PPP calls upon all patriotic Pakistanis to save Pakistan by saving
democracy to strengthen the masses who are the strength of the country by
coming forward with information regarding assassination plots against
Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and the people of Pakistan which are actually plots
against the unity and integrity of Pakistan.
Any one with information should call, text or email the following address.
Zardari House, # 8, Street 19, F-8/2, Islamabad, Tele: 051-2282781
e-mail ppp@comsats.net.pk
SSP (Security) Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto
Tele : 0307-7447950
The PPP has called for a Pakistani inquiry into the bomb blasts and asked
the government to seek technical and the cooperation from international
experts who have experience of investigation relating to terrorist attacks.
The Government has told PPP that it cannot provide more than 3 police
vehicles at any time. This means one part of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto vehicle
will be left unprotected and would be the part from which terrorists could
attack.
In a letter to Interim Security on Oct 1, PPP Parliamentarians general
Secretary Raja Pervez Ashraf noted that international grants are available
for providing assistance of experts for security.
He said that all politicians should be provided security by the government
and that militants and terrorists should not be to derail the political
process with a view of denying the people of Pakistan a representative and
democratic government that can address their social and economical needs and
provide employment, education, empowerment and other basic facilitate.
Bhutto Seeks Foreign Help to Find Attack Plotters
KARACHI, Pakistan, Oct. 21 (Agence France-Presse)
— Benazir Bhutto, a former
prime minister, on Sunday urged Pakistan to enlist international help to
find those behind the suicide attack last week that turned her homecoming
parade into a bloody carnage.
Ms. Bhutto made the plea after visiting hospitals to meet some of those
wounded by the blasts on Thursday. At least 134 people were killed.
“We want the government of Pakistan to seek the assistance of the
international community,” Ms. Bhutto told a group of foreign reporters,
adding that she had discussed the issue with the United States and Britain.
“They have antiterrorism experts who have the technical expertise to
investigate attacks of this nature.”
She also called for the Pakistani investigators to be replaced, saying that
she suspects that the nation’s security agencies have been infiltrated by
“militants and Al Qaeda.”
Ms. Bhutto reiterated her pledge to stay in Pakistan to campaign before
general elections in January. She is seeking to become prime minister for
the third time.
“We will have to modify our campaign to some extent because of the suicide
bombings, but we are not going to stop our campaign to reach the public,”
she said.
Ms. Bhutto’s party, the Pakistan Peoples Party, said she had received a
telephone call on Sunday from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who
“expressed sympathy over the loss of innocent lives.”
Flanked by security guards carrying automatic weapons, she waved to dozens
of supporters as she left Jinnah Hospital after she handed out envelopes
containing 5,000 rupees, or about $83, to the wounded.
“My wounds were healed when I met Benazir Bhutto,” said Imran Ally, who was
hit in the leg and chest by metal debris on Thursday. “It was the biggest
thing in my life. I feel no pain now.”
Benazir Bhutto: ‘We want to save Pakistan’
The former prime minister details attempt on her life and why she returned
In her first American television interview since the assassination attempt
against her, former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto sits down with
NBC News' Ann Curry. The exclusive interview will air Monday, October 22, on
TODAY.
Bhutto tells Curry she knew an assassination attempt would be made against
her and that people would be at risk.
Curry will report live from Karachi, Pakistan, Monday on TODAY. Middle East
bureau chief and correspondent Richard Engel will join Curry to report on
why Pakistan could become the most dangerous nation in the world.
Here are excerpts from the interview:
Bhutto on whether she knew about a possible assassination attempt and
whether she regrets returning to Pakistan:
Ann Curry: "If you had not returned these, people would not have died. These
women would have their husbands. They would have their children. These 140
people would be alive. These 500 people would not have been wounded.
This must feel very painful for you to know that with your decision to come
back would cause not suffering but started this chain reaction. Do you
regret coming back now seeing what has happened?"
Benazir Bhutto: "I don't."
Curry: "You knew it was going to happen."
Bhutto: "I knew an attempt would be made."
Curry: "So, you knew that people would be at risk."
Bhutto: "I knew people would be at risk."
Curry: "So, was it worth that risk, given what has happened?"
Bhutto: "And the people who came knew that there would be a risk. They put
their lives on the line. And I put my life on the line. And we did it
because we believe in a cause. We want to save Pakistan. And we think saving
Pakistan comes by saving democracy.
We know democracy means the empowerment of the poor people, the ordinary
people, the dispossessed, the downtrodden and the discriminated. So, the
people who can put their lives on the line, I put my life on the line.
Because God forbid if there is a Taliban takeover, well, everybody's life
will be at risk anyway. They went around killing people. They went around
denying girls knowledge. They went around bankrupting Afghanistan to the
extent that people were poor and desperate and hungry. And the only jobs on
offer were to join the Taliban irregular forces to wage war against other
countries and other innocent people."
Curry: "Even if you don't regret returning, because your ideals, as you just
described them, are high, do you regret how they returned [unintel phrase]?
That is a 20-minute drive. It took 10 hours. It was a very slow-moving
motorcade surrounded by millions of people. When you knew — when you knew
you were at risk, that you could be putting them at risk, did you make the
right choice to come back in this way?"
Bhutto: "I ... Ann, I find this question very uncomfortable."
Curry: "Of course, you do [unintel phrase] ...
Bhutto: "The reas— no, let me tell you why. Let me tell you why, for me it
validates terrorism and extremism. I know that's not how you mean it.
But for me it validates terrorism and extremism.
It means that terrorists can force us to change our values. It means that
terrorists can dictate the agenda. It means that terrorists, by threatening
violence, can take over nations and destroy the quality of life of their
people. And that's the reason it makes me uncomfortable.
It was no secret to me that I could be attacked. I chose to return and put
my life on the line to defend a principle I believe in. I never forced
[unintel] anyone to come out to the airport to receive me. They chose to
come because they wanted to bring change, to bring democracy and to save
their motherland from disintegrating.
And I don't think the terrorists succeeded because we took 10 hours. I think
the terrorists succeeded because the lights were off and they could move
under cover of darkness without being intercepted by us. But even on the
outside chance, even if the lights had not been off, even if we had failed
to detect them, at the end of the day, I have to ask that can we validate
terrorism and extremism and say, "Let's give up. Because if we don't give up
trying to save our values and trying to save our land then we'll get
killed."
Curry: "To risk so much there must be strong evidence that what you're
risking for might come through. What is the real chance that your coming
back will bring democracy, democratic freedom back again given the
complications, given Musharaff difficulty, given the dilemma — given the
extremists? What is the real chance that all of these lives that have been
lost, and with the risk still ongoing, the lives still threatened will be
worth your return?"
Bhutto: "Well, I feel as I can only answer for myself. Everybody has to make
this choice for themselves. I can only say I feel saving Pakistan by saving
democracy is worth putting my life on the line.
This is my country. I've seen what happened to Afghanistan when the Taliban
took over. I saw what happened in Iran when there was a revolution. There
were millions of refugees. Homes were destroyed.
Dictatorship came. And it — decades — decades since that happened, both
events happened in the '70s. I don't want people of Pakistan to be made into
refugees. I don't want people of Pakistan to live in fear that some
terrorist is going to come knocking on the door and kill them inside their
homes."
Bhutto describing the attack:
Curry: "You have survived one of the deadliest attacks in Pakistan. What is
your strongest memory of it?"
Bhutto: "My memory was of the light and the dead bodies. Because when we
were moving in the procession, the street lights had been shut. And all
along I was very worried about the street lights shut. I knew my security
wouldn't be able to spot a suicide bomber with a heavy jacket or a car
bomber coming toward us in the darkness. So, we kept trying to contact
people in the government to get the street lights turned on."
Curry: "You're saying while you're in the motorcade, you were at that moment
worried about the suicide bomber enough that you were calling the government
asking for help?"
Bhutto: "That's right. That's right. I had been cautioned. General Musharaff
had asked me to delay my return to Pakistan. And he had very kindly shared
with me information that he had received about four possible suicide squads
being sent to kill me.
But I felt that if I did not return then they would threaten me the next
time and the next time. And that the objective was to stop the transition to
democracy, not just my return on October 18th. So, we took a lot of
precaution of security. And we were confident about the caution as much as a
person can be.
But when the sun set and it got dark we got worried. Because we knew that in
the darkness we couldn't see. Then we got some floodlights.
And we tried to move the floodlight over the crowds and over the bridges.
But the floodlight could only show a sliver of people. And most of the
people we could not see.
And — after the bomb blast, the vaheco [PH] squad fire. So — we could then
see what had happened. And as the vehicles burned I could see twisted
bodies, glass, blood all over. And it was a dreadful sight because these
[unintel] had been walking alongside our truck. And suddenly they'd been
thrown. And people from our truck had also been thrown. But luckily they
survived.
So, my first sight — I'd never seen a sight like this. This was, I hope, my
last but definitely my first sight. And it's just too much blood and gore on
everybody's clothes."
Curry: "When you heard the first blast and the ... second blast, what went
through your mind?"
Bhutto: "I knew it was a suicide attack or a car bomb. Because after the
first attack went off I would doing my speech of my political secretary. So,
we were sitting and reading the speech which I was to give later in the day.
And when the first noise came she tried to get up saying, "Let me see if
it's a firecracker."
And I at once stopped her. I said, 'Wait. Let's wait and see what is,' I
respond to her. She [unintel] to me. And then came the second sound, much
louder than the first sound, and a sort of crunching noise and glass
shattering.
Curry: "Was your vehicle affected? Did it move, jump, anything? Did you feel
anything? Or was it just the sound?"
Bhutto: "No, no, the vaheco rocked from the first blast. We had this armored
truck that had been prepared. And if we had been lower on the ground, we
would be dead. And we still don't know whether it was a suicide bomber or a
car bomb. Because later on we felt that a car had come up. And that there
was a car that moved.
We don't know whether the bomber came in the car or whether there were two
different groups of bombers. But I have asked the government of Pakistan to
hold an independent inquiry headed by a credible police officer and ask them
to seek international assistance. When I talk to the British — the British
government as well as the secretary of state, I mention to both of them my
conversation with the government inviting international assistance to a
Pakistan-led inquiry. Because that ..."
Curry: "Why? Why do you want international assistance into the investigation
as to why you were attacked? Do you not trust the government to do the
investigation on it?"
Bhutto: "No, I trust the government. But I think that the international
community has greater expertise. I also feel that there are elements within
our administration who were associated with the past military dictatorship
which had founded the Afghan mujahadeen, and because of the friends of — the
friendship or the bonds that grew up at that time, they might not be able to
do such a thorough job. Or because of a lack of expertise they might not be
able to such a thorough job. So, I would like to see an independent,
credible investigation assisted by the international community with —
expertise in anti-terrorism so that we can get to the bottom of the
militants."
Bhutto on naming three people she believes are plotting against her:
Ann Curry: "You have named three people. Before you arrived you sent a
letter to President Musharaff naming three people, all three high-ranking
officials in this government. And you accused them or said they were
plotting against you. What is your evidence? Who gave you this evidence?"
Bhutto: "I know who the — my enemies are. I know the forces that supported
dictatorship. Because they feel that dictatorship provides the environment
in which militancy, extremism and terrorism can thrive."
Curry: "But how did you know these three enough to write a letter and name
them. You must have known something to do so."
Bhutto: "Well, they had been against me for a very long time. They have
tried to stop me. They've tried to stop my party from returning. And I had
information that they were continuing to meet with my political opponents.
And I knew that these are — [unintel phrase] political opponents, it's a
long history. It goes back to 1977 when military dictator of the '80s, all
through my father's government, and said that he was acting in the name of
Islam and that he wanted to bring an Islamic system into the country. So,
this battle that has now erupted onto the international stage was actually a
— a battle that began long ago in the streets of Pakistan."
Curry: "Did the United States tip you off that you were in danger? Did the
United States, I mean, help you name these three?"
Bhutto: "No, no, United States didn't tip me off about the attacks. Nor did
they help me name these three people. In fact, these three people, when
named by me, a brotherly country gave information — a Muslim country gave
information to the government of Pakistan, to General Musharaff, which
General Musharaff shared with me about the suicide bombers.
But my enmity and [unintel] people who want to stop me, who want to stop
democracy, I know who they are. I know they stop me earlier. I know that
these — some of them destabilize my government in 1996. And I know they
don't want me returning. Because they think that democracy will — weaken
their stranglehold on power and will basically undermine their whole agenda
of taking on another superpower after having defeated one."
Curry: "One of these three is a close friend of President Musharaff. He is
the chief of intelligence."
Bhutto: "Well —"
Curry: "So, is it not risky to name a close friend of the president to the
president as being someone who's plotting against you?"
Bhutto: "Well, at that time I did not know whether there would be an
assassination attempt that I would survive. And I wanted to leave on record
the suspects. I also didn't know that he was a friend of General Musharaff.
But I asked myself that even if I knew that he was a friend and I thought of
him as a suspect, would I have not written? No, I would have written.
Because I must name the people who I think will go to any expense to stop me
because they want to stop democracy, because they feel without me the
People's Party will become factionalized and that there will be not national
alternative to forming a government through an election. So, they will
always be able to influence the cobbling together of coalition.
And all I want is an independent inquiry. If the man is innocent, let a
credible international inquiry show that. But there are forces that want to
stop democracy. And those forces are trying to stop me because they know
that I have the support of the people of Pakistan."
Curry:"Are you saying you believe you were targeted my members of
Musharaff's government?"
Bhutto: "I won't — don't want to be misinterpreted on this.
Curry: "I know you don't. But you are saying that three members of his
government, high-ranking members are those you are worried may be plotting
against you.
Bhutto: "Not all three, not all three, one of them — I mean, not all three
are members of the government."
Curry: "Well, I mean."
Bhutto: "And one of them — no, no, let me tell you. One of them is not a
member of the government. And — General Musharaff says that that person is
already under some observance. As far as another member is concerned, he has
openly made his opposition to me known, which I don't mind.
Because politicians have opposition. But it is my information that his son
fought — was associate with the militant group called Natiterabom [PH]. And
it is now in the newspaper that under his influence one of the People's
Islamist militants has been released from prison and taken to the VIP — ward
of the hospital. So, I mean, there are these — I know he has connections
with militant groups. And then, of course, there is a third individual who
you have named which I have not named. I've not named about publicly other
than in my letter. And I want these people —"
Curry: "Investigated?"
Bhutto: "Well, yes, I — I want — let me say I want the terrorist attack that
killed 140 people and wounded — 300.
Curry: "It could have been 500."
Bhutto: "More than ..."
Curry: "The numbers are above 500 now."
Bhutto: "Some say 500, yes, that's right. Wounded so many people
investigated. Because I do not believe that militancy in Pakistan could have
succeeded until the sympathizers of the militants had infiltrated the
administrative and security apparatus."
Curry: "You're saying —"
Bhutto: "And now I'm to —"
Curry: "That, in fact, the government did not — did not — that members of
the government did not organize this. You're saying that it could not have
been — it could not have happened had it not been for the collusion of of
some members of the government?"
Bhutto: "I know some members have ties with the militants. I just — I know
it. They've defended suicide bombings. They've done this publicly."
Benazir moves to become complainant in new FIR
By Faraz Khan
KARACHI: It is expected that Benazir Bhutto will be made the complainant in
a police report on the attack on her Oct 18 rally within two to three days.
Her party submitted an application for the registration of a First
Information Report (FIR) on her behalf at the Bahadarabad Police Station
Sunday morning on the third day after the bomb blasts. It nominated
unidentified accused.
Prior to this, the first FIR on the incident was actually registered three
hours after the attack at the same police station but by a policeman.
Traditionally, whenever no one is available to register an FIR for an
incident the police undertake the responsibility. FIR No. 183/07 was
registered by SHO Bahadarabad Police Abid Hussain Shah as the complainant
under Sections 302, 324, 427-34, 7 of the ATA and 4/3 of the Explosives Act
for murder, attempt-to-murder, deliberate harm, and a terrorist attack. This
first FIR reported that 80 people were killed, 175 were wounded, seven
vehicles - including the one carrying Bhutto - and three police mobile units
were destroyed in the attack.
It was important for the PPP to move to make Bhutto the complainant in the
police report on the attack as then it would be the only party the police
would deal with. In the first FIR registered with the SHO as the
complainant, only he would have dealt with the entire case otherwise. The
application will now be affixed below the FIR and a new FIR is likely to be
registered in Bhutto’s name.
In the application for the FIR submitted by the PPP, the number of dead and
injured was increased to 140 and 350, respectively. “[In the application]
the PPP referred to the letter that Ms Bhutto sent to the president before
coming home,” party spokesman Farhatullah Babar told Daily Times. Bhutto had
disclosed at a press conference before her departure that she had written on
Oct 16 a letter to the president naming the people who could be investigated
should anything happen to her upon her arrival or after in Pakistan. She
specifically pointed to three individuals as prime suspects but much to the
media’s frustration she did not name them and decided instead to leave these
matters to the government.
Chief of Police Azhar Ali Farooqui confirmed to Daily Times that the
application had been received Sunday. He said that the PPP described the
incident in detail and had demanded an FIR be lodged according to the
Pakistan Penal Code, Anti-Terrorism Act and Explosives Act. He said,
however, that this had already been done by the SHO. “There isn’t anything
new in the application that was filed by the PPP,” Farooqui said, adding
that it would be nonetheless taken into consideration.
Condaleeza Rice telephones Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto
ISLAMABAD October 21, 2007: The US Secretary of State Condaleeza Rice rang
up Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto today and expressed sympathy over the loss of
innocent lives in the attack on her rally on return to Pakistan.
Ms Rice said that she was heartened that Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto escaped the
assassination attempt. Ms Rice also condemned the attack and expressed
sympathies with the bereaved families.
British Foreign Secretary telephones Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto
ISLAMABAD October 20, 2007: British Foreign Secretary David Miliband
telephoned Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Saturday evening and expressed concern
over the attack on her rally and inquired about her welfare. He said that
the British Government condemned the attack and acts of terror.
Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto thanked the British Foreign Secretary for his
concern and sympathy and said that she has asked the Government of Pakistan
for impartial inquiry into the incident, and the need for providing security
to enable free political participation in free and fair elections.
Rahul Gandhi telephones Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto
ISLAMABAD October 20, 2007: Rahul Gandhi, the son of former Indian Prime
Minster Rajiv Gandhi and Congress President Sonia Gandhi, today telephoned
Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto to express grief and shock over the bomb attack on
her rally that resulted in the loss of 140 innocent lives and injury to over
350 people.
Rahul Gandhi said that he was shocked over the incident. He said that it was
reassuring that Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto survived the attack.
President Gaddafi telephones Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto
ISLAMABAD October 20, 2007: The President of Libya Moammar Al Gaddafi
telephoned Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto today and expressed sympathy over the
loss of innocent lives in an attack on her rally on return to Pakistan.
The Libyan President said "Thank Allah that you were saved." He said that
the Government of Libya condemned the attack which he said was a grisly
crime. He regretted the loss of innocent lives. The Libyan president also
advised Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto to be careful about her security.
The first lady of Libya Madam Safia also spoke with Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto
on the occasion and said that she was shocked over what had happened and was
sad for the innocent lives that were lost in the attack. She said that the
people of Libya have great affection for the people of Pakistan. She also
invited Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto to visit Libya.
French ambassador calls on Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto
ISLAMABAD October 20, 2007: The French Ambassador Regis de Belenet called on
Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto at Bilawal House Karachi today and expressed
sympathy over the loss of innocent lives in an attack on her rally on return
to Pakistan.
The Ambassador said that the Government of France was heartened that she
escaped the assassination attempt. He said the French Government condemned
the attack. He also expressed sympathies with the bereaved families.
Ambassador Regis de Belenet also delivered a letter to her. Following is the
text of the letter:
"Madam,"
"Immediately, after the appalling attack which targeted you in Karachi, in
the night of Thursday to Friday, Mr. Bernard Kouchner, the French Minister
of Foreign and European Affairs, asked me to convey to you his shock and
outrage."
"We condemn, in the strongest possible terms, this terrorist bomb attack and
the colossal loss of innocent lives. We offer our condolences and sympathies
to all the victims' families and loved ones."
"We share the view that it is crucial for the process, scheduled to lead to
the general elections, to take place in compliance with democratic rules."
"In this difficult period of time, when all of us, we have to fight
terrorism, we assure Pakistan of our full solidarity."
"With my deepest sorrow and my very respectful regards."
"Regis de Belenet
Ambassador"
Calls for sympathy continue pouring in
Islamabad October 20, 2007: President of the Pakhtoon Khawah Milli Awami
Party (PKMAP) Mahmood Khan Achakzai, Baloch leader Abul Hayee Baloch and Ms
Tehmina Doultana MNA also phoned Mohtarma Bhutto today to express grief and
sorrow over the tragic loss of lives in the attack on her convoy on return
to Pakistan. They condemned the act of terrorism and expressed satisfaction
that Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto escaped the assassination attempt.
Socialist International President phones Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto.
ISLAMABAD October 20, 2007: The President of Socialist International, Georgios Andreas Papandreoi, rang up Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto today and
expressed sympathy over the loss of innocent lives in an attack on her rally
on return to Pakistan.
The Socialist International President and twice minister in his country said
that the Socialist International condemned the attack.
Georgios Papandreoi said that Socialist International was heartened that she
escaped the assassination attempt. He also expressed sympathies with the
bereaved families.
Meanwhile the Socialist International has issued the following statement
condemning the bombing:
"The Socialist International vigorously condemns the horrific bomb attacks
targeted against Benazir Bhutto upon her return to Pakistan, which resulted
in the deaths of more than a hundred people and the wounding of many more in
Karachi."
"The International extends its deepest sympathy to the people of Pakistan
and especially to the families of all those killed and injured in this
despicable act."
"Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan declaring her goals of establishing a
democratic rule of law so that the military can return to the barracks;
building democratic governance that treats all citizens and especially women
with full and equal rights; and ensuring transparent, accountable rule that
addresses the social and economic needs of the people as its highest
priority."
"The International fully supports her efforts, and the work of our member,
the Pakistan People's Party which she leads, in achieving these goals, and
reaffirms its solidarity with them and with all those in Pakistan who share
these objectives and continue to act with courage and determination in the
face of such criminal violence."
Messages of Sympathy continue to pour in from national and international
leaders
Islamabad October 20, 2007: Messages of sympathy and condemnation over the
attack on Mohtarma Bhutto's rally continue to pour in from national and
international leaders as well as from well wishers, sympathizers and the
general public.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called Mohtarma Bhutto on the phone
last night to express sympathy over the loss of more than hundred lives and
injury to several hundreds in an attack on her rally on return to Pakistan.
The Indian Prime Minister condemned terrorism and acts of violence and said
that he was pleased that Mohtarma Bhutto survived the attack and remained
unharmed.
Manmohan Singh said that he and all people of India learned with profound
grief and sorrow of the attack on her, her convoy and the loss of some many
innocent lives. He said that the evil of terrorism needed to be rooted out
that we all must work together towards achieving this end.
The Indian Prime Minister also conveyed his heartfelt grief and sorrow over
the death to the bereaved families.
Indian Congress Party leader Sonia Gandhi called Mohatrma Benazir Bhutto
this morning to condole with her the killing of so many people in the blasts
during rally in Karachi. She said that she was horrified to learn from media
reports about the massive loss of human lives. Sonia Gandhi also said that
she was happy that Ms Bhutto survived the attack.
The Opposition leader in the National Assembly and MMA leader Maulana Fazal
ur Rehman also called Mohtarma Bhutto to condole the death of so many
innocent lives in the attack. He said that he was pleased that her life was
saved and she remaind un hurt.
Earlier former Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif, MQM leader Altaf Hussain ,
ANP leader Senator Asfandyar Wali Khan, and the high commissioners and
ambassadors of the US, India and Italy also called her to express their
sympathies.
Mohtarma Bhutto has thanked all those who have called Bilawal House in
Karachi or otherwise expressed sympathies with her over the horrific
incident.
World Political Forum welcomes Mohtarma Bhutto on her return
The World Political Forum has also sent a letter to Mohtarma Bhutto
welcoming her return home.
Following is the text of the Forum's letter.
Islamabad October 20, 2007:
Dear Ms Bhutto,
The World Political Forum greeted with great pleasure Your return in
Pakistan, Your beloved country, and accompanied it with the most sincere
wishes that Your vows could be realized.
Having heard the news of the occurred disorders and of the numerous victims
that have unfortunately been counted, our thoughts are with You with
renovated friendship and admiration for the courage and abnegation with
which You want to achieve the restoration of democracy and of a pacific life
in Your homeland.
Sincerely,
Rolando Picchioni, Executive Director
The World Political Forum
Egyptian ambassador expresses grief
ISLAMABAD October 20, 2007: The Egyptian Ambassador in Islamabad rang up Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto today and expressed sympathy over the lost of
innocent lives in an attack on her rally on return to Pakistan.
The Ambassador said that the Government of Egypt was heartened that she
escaped the assassination attempt. He said the Egyptian Government condemned
the attack. He also expressed sympathies with the bereaved families.
Mohtarma Bhutto address press conference in Karachi
Islamabad October 19, 2007: Former Prime Minister and Chairperson of the
Pakistan Peoples Party Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto addressed a press conference
in Bilawal House Karachi today.
Following is the statement she made at the press conference that was
attended by scores of foreign and local media.
"The PPP strongly condemns the attack on its peaceful procession last night
near the Karsaz Bridge in Karachi that resulted in the killing of nearly 140
innocent people and injury to several hundreds more.
"Our thoughts, prayers and sympathies are with those who laid down their
lives, or were wounded and to their families. They made the ultimate
sacrifice for the cause of democracy and the fundamental rights of the
people. May Allah rest their souls in eternal peace. Their sacrifices will
not go in vain.
"I am also pained to learn that a TV camera man Mr. Arif and a number of
police personnel on duty were also killed and injured. They all died in the
line of duty. May their souls rest in peace. Our thoughts and prayers are
with the bereaved families.
"The cowardly people who planned the assassination attack on me are not
Muslims. No Muslim can attack a woman. I am thankful to Almighty Allah for
protecting me through the Benazir Jaanisars and the police who all lost
their lives in defending me and the top leadership of the PPP including Vice
President MAF, former Speaker Yousuf Raza Gillani, Secretary General
Jehangir Badr, Deputy Parliamentary Leader Raja Pervez Ashraf, Qasim Zia
Opposition Leader in Punjab Assembly, Leader of the Opposition in Sindh
Assembly Nisar Khuhro, Information Secretary Sherry Rehman, Political
Secretary Naheed Khan, Security Advisor Dr Rehman Malik, Senator Safdar
Abbasi, Ambassador Abida Hussain, and many others.
"Three people on our truck lost their lives. There was blood and gore all
over our clothes and street was littered with dead bodies and blood.
The police bravely did their duty. Our young boys, the flower of our youth
and the best of our future wrote a new chapter in courage and sacrifice by
defending their sister and leadership. We remember and honour them. We
honour their parents, who gave birth to such noble sons, who with their
brave hands defended us against armed militants, who want to destroy
Pakistan, damage the name of Islam and hurt the rights of the Muslims. I
salute them and their families. Their supreme sacrifice will be written in
golden letters.
"I wish to thank all the Party cadres, workers, and all those who trekked
long distances to welcome me back to the country. Their support and
solidarity is unforgettable.
"I also wish to thank all those who travelled with me or ahead me from far
off lands. They showed great courage in accompanying me despite knowing the
hazards of doing so. To them also I say thank you.
"I have received a large number of telephone calls and messages of sympathy
from all over the world. I wish to thank them all.
"What does the attack last night signify? The attack was more an attack on
the unity and integrity of the country than on any individual or any one
political party. It was an attack on Pakistan itself. It was an attack on
their political rights, on the political process and on democracy itself.
"The attack last night was a message sent by the enemies of democracy to all
the political parties of the country. It was intended to intimidate and
black-mail all the political forces and elements working for democracy and
human rights in the country. It was a warning not only to me and the PPP but
to all political parties- indeed to the entire civil society- in the
country.
"Dictatorship fuels the forces of extremism and narcotics trade. Fearing
democracy, these cowards attacked a woman and unarmed innocent men and
children.
"The attack was intended to warn the people against exercising their right
to participate in the political process for the attainment of their social,
economic and political rights.
"But let it be known to the perpetrators of the crime that the PPP will not
be deterred. The Party would never allow its voice in support of the
peoples' political and democratic rights stifled. We will continue to raise
voice and fight for the peoples' rights, come what may.
"It is imperative for all of us to fight to save Pakistan by saving
democracy. Democracy brings development and marginalizes the anti-people
forces.
"We must save Pakistan, save democracy and save the fundamental rights of
the people.
"The PPP will offer ghaaibana janaza prayers day after tomorrow on October
21 in all district headquarters for all those who lost their lives and also
prayers for the speedy recovery of those injured. We invite all the
democratic parties and forces and members of civil society to join us on the
occasion.
"I thank all the people who called to condole the deaths of the PPP workers
and wished an early recovery to those injured. These include General Pervez
Musharraf, President Hamid Karzai, L. K. Advani, Mian Nawaz Sharif, Altaf
Hussain, Indian High Commission, the US Ambassador, Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi,
the Italian Ambassador, Senator Asfandyar Wali, and many others.
"I also want to thank the 3 million people, who came from far and wide to
greet me on my return from the exile from all over Pakistan. They came from
Korakarum Pass, AJK, Northern Areas, Tribal Areas, plains of Punjab, deserts
of Sindh, and Balochistan, singing, dancing, full of joy in celebration to
mark a return that could be a catalyst to change, to democracy. We will not
let the militants destroy the hopes of our people for freedom and prosperity
despite the tragedy that followed the triumph."
Benazir blames three for carnage
Vows not to leave Pakistan; no surrender to militants;fears attacks on her
Karachi, Larkana residences
By Tahir Hasan Khan
KARACHI:
Describing the bomb blasts as attempts to assassinate her and her
party leaders, PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto on Friday declared she would
not leave the country despite the two suicide attacks.
Condemning the attacks strongly, Benazir said this was not the last attack
on her life and expressed fears that her Clifton and Larkana residences
would also be attacked. She demanded of the government to provide her
security and deploy senior police officers for the security of her
residences.
Addressing a hurriedly-called news conference at the Bilawal House, a
defiant Benazir dispelled the impression that she would leave the country
after the blasts. She said her children were living abroad and she had to go
for lectures all over the world but she would not leave the country due to
threats and suicide attacks.
The PPP leader said her party believed that only democracy could save
Pakistan from disintegration and a militant takeover, adding that she was
prepared to risk her life but not prepared to surrender before the
militants.
Benazir denied the involvement of the government, the al-Qaeda, Taliban and
Pakistani Taliban in the attack but claimed that a fourth group was involved
in it. She said she had informed Gen Pervez Musharraf just two days before
her departure from Dubai about the group.
Benazir said she was not accusing the government but certain individuals who
had abused their positions and powers. She also rejected the impression that
the Muttahida Qaumi Movement was involved in this attack, saying no liberal
party was involved.
Benazir said she had informed Gen Musharraf through a letter that three
persons would be responsible if she was hurt. However, she refused to
disclose their names, saying that a brotherly Muslim country was provided
with these three names.
She said the attack was, in fact, an attack on the unity, integrity and
democratic process of the country and a threat to all politicians who
believed in democracy and liberal society. The attackers were not Muslim as
no Muslim would attack women and innocent people, she said.
Benazir said two attackers were involved in the deadly bombing and her
security guards had found a third man armed with a pistol and another with a
suicide vest. Ahead of her arrival, she was warned that suicide squads were
dispatched to kill her.
Paying tributes to those who were killed in the attack, she said her 50
guards were killed while 100 other innocent people, including women and
children, lost their lives. Expressing satisfaction over the security
arrangements made by the police and her party, she found it suspicious the
way the streetlights were switched off after sunset when her convoy was
moving on the Sharae Faisal. She said attempts to reach the national
security adviser to have the lights restored were unsuccessful – the phone
lines were apparently down. She said due to the darkness, nobody could see
what was going on at Sharae Faisal and demanded that this point and who was
behind this must be investigated.
Benazir said she heard bullet shots before the blast and someone told her
that it was the sound of firecrackers. “I had feared that terrorist activity
would be carried out when firecrackers would be fired.”
Benazir said after she heard the gunfire, she came down to the cubicle to
discuss her speech with her political secretary Naheed Khan. “I wanted to
emphasize on one point in my speech that all political parties should be
allowed to carry out political activities in tribal areas.”
While discussing this point, she heard the sound of a blast. “It was a low
intensity blast,” she said. The PPP leader said the second blast occurred
when she was changing her shoes. “It was a powerful blast and my guards
asked me to leave the vehicle as a bomb had exploded,” she said. “They also
shifted me and other party leaders in other vehicles to a safe place.”
She said before the blast, her bullet-proof vehicle was stopped when the
attackers fired on the wheels to puncture them so that a suicide bomber
could then hit her. She said Raja Pervez Ashraf had written two letters to
the authorities with regard to the security for the rally while her party
had also approached the Sindh High Court and the court had ordered the
government to provide her security.
The PPP leader said when she saw that poor people from all over the country
and far-flung areas of Fata and Azad Kashmir had come to welcome her, she
decided not to sit in the bullet-proof cubicle.
She announced the PPP will offer funeral prayers in absentia on Oct 21
(Sunday) in all the district headquarters across the country for all those
who had lost their lives and also prayers for the speedy recovery of the
injured.
She called on all the democratic parties and forces and members of the civil
society to join the party on the occasion and demanded of the government to
provide protection to participants of the prayers.
Bhutto says she warned of plotting days before attack
By Carlotta Gall and Salman Masood
KARACHI, Pakistan: The Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, who
narrowly survived a bloody suicide attack Thursday night, said Friday she
had sent a letter to the president, General Pervez Musharraf, days ago
listing names and other specific information about people in the Pakistani
government and security forces who were plotting against her.
She did not expressly blame the government or give the names in a news
conference Friday, less than 24 hours after the attack, in which two
explosions killed 134 people and wounded 450. Friday she and the authorities
in Karachi blamed Islamist militants for carrying out the bombing.
But she said it was suspicious that streetlights failed after sunset
Thursday when her convoy was moving through the streets of Karachi, The
Associated Press reported. "We were scanning the crowd with the floodlights,
but it was difficult to scan the crowds because there was so much darkness,"
she said, according to the AP
The explosions took place just feet from a truck in which Bhutto was
traveling during a triumphal procession marking her return to Pakistan after
eight years in exile.
The AP said Bhutto had written to Musharraf on Oct. 16. In an interview
Friday published on the Web site of Paris-Match, Bhutto said, "I know
exactly who is trying to kill me," blaming officials who had belonged to the
government of the former president, General Mohammad Zia ul-Haq, who seized
power in 1977 when he arrested and hanged Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali
Bhutto, Bhutto's father. She said those officials were behind the extremism
and fanaticism troubling the country and had to be purged from the secret
services. Taliban and Islamist extremists "cannot act on their own," she
said in the interview. "They need logistics, food, weapons and someone to
supervise them."
Bhutto had retreated inside the armored truck a few minutes before the
attack and was unhurt, but scores of people were killed among the huge
crowds of perhaps 200,000 or more. It was a bloody end to the triumphal
tenor of her homecoming. She was returning to Pakistan to lead her party in
the parliamentary elections scheduled for January.
Accounts of the attack differed somewhat: local security officials blamed a
lone suicide bomber, but Bhutto was quoted by The Associated Press as saying
that there were several attackers.
At a news conference in Karachi Friday, the home secretary of Sindh
Province, Ghulam Mohatarem, said a single suicide bomber first threw a
grenade to disrupt the security cordon around Bhutto's procession before
lunging at the truck and detonating the explosives he was wearing.
But Bhutto said at a later news conference that there had been two
attackers, and that her security guards had also found a third man armed
with a pistol and a fourth with an undetonated suicide vest, according to
the AP
She said her guards had prevented more deaths. "They stood their ground, and
they stood all around the truck, and they refused to let the suicide bomber
— the second suicide bomber — get near the truck," she said, the AP
reported.
"We believe democracy alone can save Pakistan from disintegration and a
militant takeover," she added. "We are prepared to risk our lives and we are
prepared to risk our liberty, but we are not prepared to surrender our great
nation to the militants."
Mohatarem said that a police vehicle in the attacker's path had taken the
brunt of the explosion. Pellets and ball bearings had been packed with the
explosives, he said, and accounted for the high number of casualties in the
dense crowd. He could not confirm that a head found at the scene was that of
the attacker, but he said that he believed the attacker belonged to one of
the extremist Islamist groups active in Pakistan.
"We do not know which group but one of the extremist groups," he said.
There were no claims of responsibility. The Associated Press had quoted
Mohatarem earlier as saying that the attack bore the hallmarks of a
pro-Taliban Pakistani militant commander, Baitullah Mehsud, who has been
linked to Al Qaeda and is active near the Afghan border. He had threatened
to send suicide bombers to attack Bhutto because of her strong support for
the fight against terrorism.
However, Bhutto's husband, Asif Ali Zardari, said he blamed some in
Pakistan's intelligence agencies who felt threatened by Bhutto.
Bhutto, who had spent eight hours on the open roof of the truck waving to
supporters, had climbed inside 10 minutes before the blasts occurred, just
before midnight, said Rehman Malik, her security adviser and close
associate.
She was immediately taken to Bilawal House, her home in Karachi. The parade
through the city had been scheduled to end several miles away at the tomb of
Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan.
Bhutto's arrival at 2 p.m. had drawn huge crowds, who danced on top of buses
and surged forward as she inched her way for hours through her home city.
The strong outpouring provided an emotional homecoming for Bhutto and
political vindication of sorts for a woman twice turned out of office as
prime minister, after being accused of corruption and mismanagement.
It also demonstrated that she remained a potent political force in Pakistan,
even after her long absence, and marked what supporters and opponents alike
agreed was a new political chapter for the nation.
The violence that quickly followed showed it to be a treacherous one as
well.
The explosions, caught on camera, gave off brilliant white flashes and set
two cars ablaze. Survivors stumbled over bodies and debris in a haze of
smoke.
"I can only say that I saw heaps of bodies lying over there," said her
adviser, Malik. He was standing at the front of the truck and was knocked
down by the force of the blast, he said. His hair was burned.
"The damage could have been much worse had we not taken our own security
arrangements," he added.
The government had promised before Bhutto's arrival to provide security. It
had also asked her to delay returning. But Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party
had fielded 2,000 of its own workers to form rings around their returning
leader, guarding her with their numbers and preventing any vehicles or
people from approaching.
Before the explosions sundered the celebration, thousands of supporters and
workers from her party had lined Bhutto's route, waving banners and surging
forward for a glimpse of the opposition leader. Many danced in the road.
Bhutto waved as music pumped out from loudspeakers. The crowd was
overwhelmingly working class. Many young men said they were unemployed, but
had traveled hundreds of miles, paying their own way, and camping out
overnight on the road to the airport to await her arrival.
In the crowd, Raja Munir Ahmed, 42, a real estate agent, said he had come
from Mirpur in the Pakistani-administered part of Kashmir. "It was a journey
of 1,500 kilometers, and all along we saw buses and cars carrying Peoples
Party flags," he said. "People want change. People want to get rid of
inflation and unemployment."
Then he shouted, "Long live Bhutto!" and disappeared into the crowd.
Such supporters were among the majority of those killed and wounded. But
about six were also police and law enforcement officials, and 20 other
police officials were wounded, Mohatarem said. Eight police vans were
flanking the truck at the time and the explosions occurred on the left and
right sides of the road, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said.
He denied that it was a security lapse, saying that the crowds and length of
the route made it difficult to ensure security.
Earlier, Bhutto was clearly emotional as she took her first steps on
Pakistani soil, having lived the last eight years in self-imposed exile in
London and Dubai. She left Pakistan to escape corruption charges she
contends were politically motivated.
She climbed down a metal staircase to reach the tarmac, and paused on the
bottom step and prayed as friends held a Koran aloft. As an aide embraced
her, Bhutto wiped tears from her eyes.
"The most important step — to be back on Pakistani soil," she said, as
cameramen swarmed around her.
On the plane from Dubai, supporters broke into repeated cheers and chanting
of "Prime Minister Benazir," standing in the aisles and delaying the flight
for nearly an hour. Bhutto walked through the cabin to greet supporters and
the news media.
"Very excited, very happy, very proud, a tremendous sense of responsibility
as there are so many people at the airport," she said when asked how she
felt.
In words that later seemed prescient, she spoke strongly about terrorism and
the need to save Pakistan from extremism. "The time has come for democracy,"
she said. "If we want to save Pakistan, we have to have democracy."
Bhutto had made clear repeatedly that she was returning to Pakistan to lead
her party in the parliamentary elections scheduled for January. If she can
win a change in the law, she will run for prime minister for a third time,
something now legally barred.
"The people are telling me the bread-and-butter issues are the most
important," she said. "They are saying that poverty has increased, the gulf
between the rich and poor has increased. They say that people want change.
They want a government that listens to them, will respect them, and will
address the people's issues."
Senior members of the party traveling with Bhutto said the turnout made it
clear the people wanted change after eight years of military rule.
"It is unprecedented," said Aftar Rana, a senior party member from Punjab
Province, looking down at the crowd. "I think we will sweep the elections.
People have come from everywhere."
Bhutto's return was made possible after months of back-channel negotiations
with Musharraf, over a way for the two leaders to share power as Pakistan
makes a transition from a military government.
Bhutto's party did not join other opposition parties this month in
boycotting presidential elections by the national and provincial assemblies.
The move allowed Musharraf to successfully engineer his re-election, though
he still faces legal challenges in the Supreme Court over his eligibility.
For his part, Musharraf issued an amnesty for Bhutto and others accused of
corruption in recent years, and he agreed to resign his post as chief of the
army staff and serve his next term as a civilian.
But the bombing upon Bhutto's arrival made it clear that, deal or no deal,
the country's politics remained exceedingly tense, and dangerous. The
explosions now seem certain to add fresh venom to relations between the
Pakistan Peoples Party and the government.
Musharraf, according to a statement released by state media, condemned the
attack "in the strongest possible words," calling it "a conspiracy against
democracy."
The Bush administration, which has backed Musharraf, noted his condemnation
of the attack, as the State Department issued a statement saying, "Those
responsible seek only to foster fear and limit freedom."
Nonetheless, Bhutto's husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who did not make the return
to Pakistan with his wife, immediately pointed a finger at the government
and said the Pakistan Peoples Party would have to rethink its understanding
with the government.
He said the government felt threatened by the power of Bhutto and suggested
that the intelligence agencies were behind the blasts.
"I blame the government," he said in an interview with Geo, an independent
television news channel, from his home in Dubai. "The intelligence agencies
are spreading terrorism," he said. "Those who are sitting in the government
feel threatened by us."
Bhutto earlier said in the interview atop the truck that she was concerned
about her security and that she had told Musharraf that she suspected people
in his administration and the security forces of supporting the militants
and terrorism.
"This is not the same Pakistan it was in 1996 when my government was
overthrown," she said. "The militants have risen in power. But I know who
these people are, I know the forces behind them, and I have written to
Musharraf about this. And I've told him there are certain people I suspect
in the administration and security.
"Unless there is some thought given to that, this is what emboldens the
militants," she said. "They've got some covert support from sympathizers
within the system."
Graham Bowley contributed reporting from New York.
Bhutto alleges military link to suicide bombing
Former PM handed dossier of names to government before attack that killed
138
Declan Walsh in Karachi
October 20, 2007:
Benazir Bhutto yesterday accused a shadowy web of figures
with links to Pakistan's powerful military establishment of orchestrating
Thursday's huge suicide bombing that killed 138 people and wounded 300.
Less than 24 hours after the failed assassination attempt, which has plunged
Pakistan into a fresh crisis, Ms Bhutto said she had received extensive
information about plots against her life - including names of ringleaders
and telephone numbers - days before she flew to Karachi early on Thursday.
HRCP calls for unity against terror
Lahore, October 19: No words are too strong to condemn the dastardly attack
on Ms. Benazir Bhutto's convoy in Karachi on Thursday night, one of the most
horrible and certainly the costliest incident of terrorism in the country's
history. Not only the PPP chairperson but the party's entire high command
was the target of the perpetrators of the outrage. That they have had a
miraculous escape has caused a sigh of relief but the grief and shock at the
loss of over 130 innocent lives will weigh heavy on each conscious
Pakistani's conscience for a long, long time. Those who plotted this
massacre most foul are not the enemies of Benazir Bhutto, or PPP, or
democracy alone, they are the worst enemies of Pakistan and whatever
precious has been left of its tradition of tolerance and openness. Their
crime is much too grave to be treated with the security establishment's
customary perfunctoriness.
Attempts to dismiss the blasts as the work of suicide bomber(s) will only
inflame passions among the aggrieved. A high-level probe is a must. Apart
from the hands involved in planting / detonating explosives close to Ms.
Benazir Bhutto's vehicle, the investigators must expose the elements whose
traditional hostility to democracy is known and who could not bear even a
rare sight of democratic festivity. Above all the gravity of the situation
calls for all Pakistanis of goodwill to ponder the national agenda. The
present regime's incapacity to deal with terrorism needs no further proof
and while there is no need to avoid elections the present demands the
greatest possible unity among the people and immediate formation of a
national government capable of fighting terrorism without depriving the
people of democratic governance and the enjoyment of human rights.
Iqbal Haider
Secretary General
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
Karachi Blasts: Peoples Party announces three-day mourning
KARACHI: Pakistan Peoples Party Friday announced three days’ countrywide
mourning after attack on the party’s rally that killed over 130 and wounded
more than 500 people.
In the three-day mourning party flag at the PPP offices throughout Pakistan
would be lowered at half-mast and black flags will be hoisted to mourn the
tragic incident.
Bhutto was unhurt, narrowly escaping with her life as the blasts ripped
through the police escort of the parade in the streets of Karachi, which
were thronged with hundreds of thousands of her supporters.
Government sources said it was a suicide attack. Federal interior ministry
has confirmed 70 deaths in the incident.
BB wants IB chief Ijaz Shah sacked
LAHORE: Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto has demanded that the
government sack Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief Brig (r) Ijaz Shah, PPP
spokesman Senator Farhatullah Babar quoted her as saying after the late
night blasts on Thursday in Karachi that killed dozens of people. Ms
Bhutto’s husband Zardari told Geo TV that he did not think that extremist
elements were behind these blasts, adding that some elements within the
government, including some ministers, were responsible for the blasts. He
said the PPP was a democratic party and was not a threat to jihadi elements.
He said some ministers were also on the hit list of jihadi elements. He said
he knew some people sitting in the government who could possibly be behind
these blasts. But, he said, he would not disclose their names “as only Ms
Bhutto would reveal these names”. Zardari said Ms Bhutto would talk to the
media on Friday (today). daily times monitor
Benazir says her arrival begins a new journey
* BB writing book on reconciling values of Islam and West
* Says talks with Musharraf difficult due to opposition from anti-democratic
forces
* BB expects more CBMs from government
By Khalid Hasan
WASHINGTON: Former premier Benazir Bhutto said in Dubai, prior to her
departure for Karachi, that her arrival would not mark the end of a journey
but the beginning of one, according to an article published both in Boston
Globe and the Times of London.
Book on Islam-West reconciliation: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)
chairwoman said she was carrying with her the manuscript of a book she was
writing on reconciling the values of Islam and the West. “It will be a
prescription for a moderate and modern Islam that marginalises religious
extremists, returns the military from politics to their barracks, treats all
citizens and especially women with full and equal rights, selects its
leaders by free and fair elections, and provides for transparent, democratic
governance that addresses the social and economic needs of the people as its
highest priority,” the article quoted her as saying.
She said that it would be her campaign manifesto, a guide to governing. “If
the people of Pakistan honour me again with an opportunity to lead, I intend
to practise what I preach, to have my actions match my rhetoric and to make
Pakistan a positive model to one billion Muslims around the world,” she
added. She said since independence, Pakistan had lurched between military
dictatorships and democracy.
She said that for almost a decade the nation had been ruled by a military
dictatorship. For the last five years Pakistan had been challenged by an
international terrorism movement with the tribal areas of Pakistan as its
very epicenter.
Talks with Musharraf difficult process: Bhutto admitted that for the “last
several months”, she had negotiated with President General Pervez Musharraf
to “simultaneously ensure a transition to democracy in Pakistan and to
mobilise the moderate middle of our society to confront and contain fanatics
and extremists.” She added that it had been “a difficult process, made even
more difficult by the resistance of many who now enjoy power in Pakistan to
accepting a democratic alternative”. She stated that the “long discussions
have borne some fruit”. She referred to General Musharraf’s promise to
retire from the army followed by the government of Pakistan announcing a set
of confidence-building measures “codified initially in the National
Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) to pave the way for a legitimate and
accountable Parliament”.
BB expects more CBMs from govt: She admitted that it is not a “perfect
agreement, and it certainly is not an end to the process”. But she called it
an “important beginning to the transition to democracy, with the goal of
bringing reform and political change without the chaos and bloodshed under
which extremism and militancy thrive”. She added that she expected more
confidence-building measures (CBMs) in the “next phase”.
Bhutto said, “The forces of moderation and democracy must, and will, prevail
against extremism and dictatorship. I will not be intimidated. I will step
out on the tarmac in Karachi not to complete a journey, but to begin one.
Despite threats of death, I will not acquiesce to tyranny, but rather lead
the fight against it.”
Asif Zardari blames Pak govt, spy agencies
Asif Ali Zardari, former Pakistan prime
minister Benazir Bhutto’s husband, has blamed President General Pervez
Musharraf’s government for the bomb attacks on her convoy in Karachi on
Thursday.
“Elements inside the government are responsible for the blasts,” he told
CNN-IBN from Dubai hours after two blasts hit Bhutto’s procession and killed
more than hundred people.
“The blasts were a part of a conspiracy and they were a direct attack on
Benazir. We blame the intelligence agencies for this. Phone jammers were not
working during the procession and security measures were not enough for such
an event.
Zardari said Bhutto survived because her Pakistan People’s Party supporters
had formed a security ring around her. “There were 500 people surrounding
her; that's why Benazir is safe. People who were not her supporters were
allowed in the court”
Zardari said Bhutto had written a letter to Musharraf before leaving Dubai
and demanded that he take certain “steps” for her security.
“Benazir’s life dedicated for the cause of democracy and the government will
lose out because of this attack.”
Zardari, a businessman Bhutto wed in an arranged marriage in 1987, has been
seen as her greatest liability. He was released on bail after eight years in
prison in 2004. The Pakistani government recently issued a ‘national
reconciliation ordinance’ which absolved him.
Former Pakistan
Leader Bhutto Poised for Return
by Corey Flintoff
October 5, 2007: She has
been pictured in a People list of the "World's 50 Most Beautiful People" and
in an arrest notice from Interpol, the international police agency. She has
twice been the prime minister of Pakistan, and twice been deposed amid
allegations of corruption. Still beautiful and still accused, Benazir Bhutto
is poised for a return to politics.
Bhutto, 54, has said she'll return to Pakistan on October 18, after living
for the past eight years in exile in London and Dubai. Leaders of her
Pakistan Peoples Party have been negotiating with the military government of
President Pervez Musharraf on a deal that reportedly could exempt her from
prosecution and give her a share in the government.
Bhutto's Life in Politics
Bhutto's tumultuous life in politics follows a family tradition that began
with her grandfather. The wealthy feudal lord helped clear the way for the
creation of Pakistan as an autonomous state for south Asian Muslims in 1947.
Bhutto's father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, served terms as Pakistan's president
and prime minister in the 1970s. He was deposed in a military coup,
convicted of ordering the murder of a political rival and hanged in 1979.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's political party, and his family, have always
maintained that he was falsely accused and tried on the orders of the coup
leader, General Zia ul-Haq.
Bhutto was 26 and under house arrest with her mother in her home city of
Karachi when her father was hanged. She was a graduate of Harvard University
and had studied international law and diplomacy at Oxford. For the next six
years, she worked on a book (Pakistan: The Gathering Storm, 1983) and served
as an aide to her mother, Begum Nasrat Bhutto, who had assumed the
leadership of the Pakistan Peoples Party.
In 1984, she was allowed to return to the United Kingdom, where she became
the party leader in exile. In late 1987, she married Asif Ali Zardari, the
hereditary leader of an important Pakistani tribal group. The couple has
three children.
Leading the Country
In 1988, Pakistan's military dictator, General Zia ul-Haq, was
killed in an airplane crash. In the general election that followed, the PPP
won a majority of seats in parliament, and Benezir Bhutto was chosen as
prime minister.
Bhutto's party promised to remove the last traces of feudalism from
Pakistani society and to run the government in accordance with socialist
principals. She also promised to improve the lot of women and repeal
provisions of Pakistani law that restrict women's freedom, but her
government was unable to overcome conservative opposition in parliament.
Bhutto has cast herself as a strong opponent of terrorism. But her opponents
claim her government provided aid to the Taliban in Afghanistan, in the
belief that the Islamist movement would bring stability to that country.
Dismissed from Government
Bhutto's government was dismissed in 1990 amid charges of
corruption involving her husband, Asif Ali Zardari. The leader of an
important tribal group in Pakistan, Zardari became known as "Mr. Ten
Percent" during his wife's tenure, because of allegations that he extorted
that percentage from people seeking to do business with the Pakistani
government. He served two years in prison, but was released when Benazir
Bhutto won re-election in 1993.
In 1996, Bhutto's government was dismissed a second time, again on
corruption charges involving her husband. The couple was accused of – among
other things – accepting bribes to grant a single dealer a monopoly on
importing gold to Pakistan. Investigators found a document appearing to show
that the dealer deposited $10 million into Zardari's bank account in Dubai,
a document the dealer says was forged. Allegations against the couple have
also surfaced in France, Poland and Switzerland. Zardari was held in prison
for another eight years without trial before his release by the Musharraf
government in 2004.
Neither Bhutto nor the Musharraf government have been willing to comment on
the details of their recent talks, but a government spokesman said that
certain charges against her might be dropped in the interest of national
reconciliation.
Who Is
Behind the Attack on Bhutto?
By ARYN BAKER
Friday, Oct. 19, 2007: Pakistanis from
across the nation are flocking to the morgues of Karachi to identify loved
ones who perished in Thursday's devastating suicide attack on a welcome-home
rally for former two-time prime minister Benazir Bhutto. The blasts killed
133 and left hundreds critically injured. As families struggled to identify
mangled bodies shattered by the force of the explosions, grief turned to
rage. But the inevitable questions surrounding Pakistan's worst ever
terrorist attack — who did this, and why? — remain unanswered. President
General Pervez Musharraf, in a condolence call to Bhutto on Friday morning,
asked that no one should "take advantage of the situation and start a blame
game." Police Chief Asif Farouki says that investigators have recovered part
of a torso wearing a suicide vest, as well as hands and feet. He calls it a
"typical suicide attack," and says that the bomber utilized sophisticated
plastic explosives. "This was more an attack on the unity and integrity of
the country than on any individual or any one political party," said Bhutto,
in a press conference Friday evening. "It was an attack on Pakistan itself.
It was an attack on our political rights, on the political process and on
democracy itself."
International leaders were quick to condemn the attack and many have said
that the bombing, which took place just meters from Bhutto's specially
designed bulletproof armored trailer, which was transporting her to a
planned rally at the tomb of Pakistan's founder, carries all the hallmarks
of al-Qaeda.
Few in Pakistan are so certain. Bhutto, in a press conference late Friday,
blamed militants, but suggested that the government was also at fault for
failing to provide proper security. A few hours prior to the twin blasts a
large section of the convoy route had been plunged into darkness when an as
yet unexplained power outage shut down all the street lamps. "The closing of
the street lamps was impeding our security procedures," she said. "Our
security forces were having difficulty identifying suicide bombers." Ahead
of her arrival, she said, she had been warned that suicide bombers were
preparing for her. "I knew the attack could be carried out, but I was
prepared to take this risk for my people and my land." In a letter written
to Musharraf a week prior to her arrival, Bhutto had passed on the warnings,
and asked for security measures equal to his own, as the right of a former
leader of the country.
Rival and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who is currently in exile in
Saudi Arabia, said in an interview with a local television station that "the
responsibility lies on the shoulders of the government. This was an
extraordinary event, and the government should have gone taken extraordinary
measures to protect her."
Security throughout the event was remarkably poor. The crowds that thronged
the airport terminal to greet her arrival from Dubai were only superficially
searched, and with hundreds of thousands lining the route to cheer her
passage, it was more a question of when, not if, an attack would occur. "She
was a slow moving target, and her route was known weeks in advance," says
Shafqat Mahmood, a political analyst and former senator in Bhutto's Pakistan
People's Party (PPP). "She was an easy target for those who hate her."
Karachi-based analyst Nusrat Javed says that several of Bhutto's statements
at Western forums over the past few weeks may have riled any number of
forces in Pakistan. She has said on several occasions that if the situation
in the tribal areas, where senior members of al-Qaeda are thought to be
hiding, continues to deteriorate, she would consider allowing American
forces to fight on Pakistani soil. She has also said that she would provide
the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEAP) access to nuclear
proliferator — and Pakistani hero — A. Q. Khan. "These statements have been
manipulated by the media to make it seem as if she is more than willing to
do whatever it is the United States wants, and that is a very unpopular
position here in Pakistan," says Javed. "Taken with her vow to eradicate
extremism in the tribal areas, she has excited all the usual suspects in the
political continuum."
Kamran Noorani, a prominent Pakistani publisher who witnessed last night's
explosions firsthand, suggests that blaming al-Qaeda or international
terrorist groups is too easy, and could potentially cover up a much more
complicated array of forces that would benefit by attacking Bhutto. "I don't
think Bhutto is much of a threat to groups like al-Qaeda," he says. "What
can she really do right now to counter terrorism? Maybe in the long run she
will change Pakistan, but in the short run she is less of a threat than the
military is." Instead, he says, yesterday's attacks could have been at the
instigation of groups within the government that feel threatened by her
populist appeal. The PPP's massive grassroots support is largely dependent
on carnival-like political rallies that entertain party members as much as
they provide hope for a better life. No other party in Pakistan has been
able to match the PPP in terms of fervent rural loyalty. With parliamentary
elections due in January, Bhutto's return just in time for the start of the
campaign could prove disastrous for other political groups. "This is not a
country where you watch political debates between candidates on TV. Here,
campaigns take place in parks, on country roads and in the streets," says
Noorani. "My feeling is that this was done to scare Bhutto and the PPP. It
was done to discourage proper election campaigning. This will discourage
people from going out and participating."
At her press conference, Bhutto accused elements associated with the
government for being behind some of the recent threats against her life. In
particular she said she had told Musharraf that three people, whom she did
not name, might be attempting to kill her. "I am not accusing the
government," she said. "I am accusing people, certain individuals who abuse
their positions. Who abuse their powers." In the past she has blamed
supporters of former military general Mohammed Zia ul Haq, who ovethrew
Bhutto's father and PPP founder Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1977
and hanged him in 1979. Haq died in a mysterious plane crash a decade later,
but his legacy, which saw the birth of the anti-soviet jihad and a
constitutional turn toward religious fundamentalism, remains strong in
certain branches of the military. "Even if Musharraf wouldn't want to do
something [against Bhutto], there is no guarantee that someone else from
that camp is not involved with this," says Noorani.
Bhutto certainly doesn't have to look very hard to find enemies. "There is
something about Benazir that is intensely polarizing," says Mahmood. "There
are a lot of people who love her, but there are also a lot who hate her."
Sindh Inspector General Zia-ul Hassan warns that militants have threatened
more suicide attacks, and a Pakistani Taliban commander has told a
local-language paper in the militant stronghold of Waziristan that "Benazir
has arrived at the U.S. behest to carry out operations against the Mujahedin.
We will target her."
Bhutto says she is ready for the challenge. "Let it be known to the
perpetrators of the crime that the PPP will not be deterred. We will
continue to fight for the people's rights, come what may." The PPP may be
willing to fight, but next time around, Bhutto's base may be too afraid to
come out and support her.
Benazir Bhutto
the Target of a Suicide Attack that Killed 140
As she returned to her home country, the motorcade in
which former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was traveling was
attacked by a suicide bomber, killing 140 and injuring 400.
By Anastacia Mott Austin
Benazir Bhutto’s triumphant return to her home country was marred by the
worst suicide bombing in the country’s history.
Near midnight on Thursday, Bhutto’s truck was among others traveling through
the streets of Karsaz, Pakistan, when a suicide bomber allegedly tossed a
grenade toward Bhutto’s security detail. The first bomb was designed as a
distraction which allowed the attacker to get much closer to Bhutto’s
vehicle, where he then detonated his vest. Other theories propose that there
were two attackers.
Bhutto was not injured in the attack, but nearly 140 people were killed and
400 wounded, in what has been described by current President General Perez
Musharraf as the worst terrorist attack in Pakistan’s history.
Ghulam Mohammed Mohtarem, Pakistan’s Home Secretary, told the press, "We
have no doubt it was a suicide attack. It can’t be definitively said which
group was involved, but it is one of the extremist groups."
Fears that she would be the target of just such an attack ran high before
Bhutto’s return. In fact, she told reporters she had been warned of several
planned attacks in advance. Saying only that her source had been "a
brotherly country," she told the press that she had been warned of a planned
attack by Al-Qaeda operatives, as well as one by the Taliban, and another
extremist group. She passed the information to Pakistani government
officials, but said that pursuing the attackers may be difficult.
In addition, Bhutto said she knew of several individuals within the
Pakistani government itself who may have been involved. "I am not accusing
the government, but I am accusing certain individuals who abuse their
positions, who abuse their powers," said Bhutto to reporters. "I know in my
heart who my enemies are."
Bhutto has been in self-imposed exile for eight years, after Musharraf
seized power in 1999. The two had been negotiating recently, which prompted
her return to Pakistan.
According to the Associated Press of Pakistan, President Musharraf phoned
Bhutto and told her he would provide additional protection. "The president
expressed his firm resolve that all possible steps would be taken and a
thorough investigation would be carried out to bring the perpetrators to
justice," said the report issued by the press group.
While deeply shaken by the attack, Bhutto says she remains undaunted in her
task to bring democracy to Pakistan. "The attack was not on me, the attack
was on what I represent, it was an attack on democracy, by those who are
against the unity and integrity of Pakistan," she said.
Added Bhutto during a press conference from her family’s home in the
southern Pakistani city of Clifton, "A minority wants to hijack the destiny
of this great nation. And we will not be intimidated by this minority."
Bhutto: No surrender
despite bombings
FORMER Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto vowed yesterday to continue
campaigning despite a double suicide bomb attack which left more 130 of her
supporters dead.
Two bombers struck her homecoming convoy in Karachi on Thursday night.
She said her security guards also found another man armed with a pistol and
another with what appeared to be a suicide bomb vest.
Speaking hours after the attack, Ms Bhutto said: “We are prepared to risk
our lives, but we are not prepared to surrender.”
She accused the Pakistani authorities of failing to act on a tip from a
“brotherly country” that a suicide attack was planned. She said the bombing
was not an attack on her but on democracy and the unity and integrity of
Pakistan. She accused the plotters of wanting to destroy Pakistan and damage
Islam.
The midnight attack in Karachi, which killed up to 136 people, was blamed by
the authorities on al-Qaida and the Taliban.
The attack — one of the deadliest in Pakistan’s history — bore the hallmarks
of militants linked to pro-Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud and al-Qaida,
according to Ghulam Muhammad Mohtarem, the top security official in the
province.
As forensic experts studied the severed head of one of the bombers to try to
determine his identity, Mr
Mohtarem suggested the Bhutto camp had got carried away celebrating her
return after eight years in exile and had not taken the need for security
seriously.
Ms Bhutto was unhurt, but the blasts near her bulletproof truck turned her
homecoming parade into a scene of blood and carnage.
She appeared dazed afterward and was escorted to her Karachi home.
President General Pervez Musharraf, the nation’s leader, phoned Ms Bhutto
yesterday to express his shock, his spokesman said.
Mr Musharraf vowed to “bring the perpetrators of this heinous crime to
justice”.
There was no claim of responsibility for the attack, which shed new
uncertainty over Ms Bhutto’s talks with Mr Musharraf and possible plans for
a moderate, pro-US alliance.
Officials at six hospitals in Karachi reported 136 dead and about 250
wounded.
Karachi police chief Azhar Farooqi said 113 people died, including 20
police, and that 300 people were wounded. It was not immediately possible to
reconcile the differing death tolls.
On the eve of Ms Bhutto’s arrival, a provincial official cited intelligence
reports that three suicide bombers linked to Mehsud were in Karachi. The
local government also warned Bhutto could be targeted by Taliban or al-Qaida.
Earlier this month, local media reports quoted Mehsud as vowing to greet Ms
Bhutto’s return to Pakistan with suicide attacks.
Benazir says she had information about a plot to kill her
Nirupama Subramanian
KARACHI: Benazir Bhutto, leader of the
Pakistan People’s Party, revealed on Friday said she had written to
President Pervez Musharraf two days before her return to the country naming
three individuals who she suspected of plotting to kill her.
“I wrote to him saying that if something should happen to me, I will blame
those who make people disappear. I have written to him telling him who I
suspect. I have named three people. Whether the apparent organisation is A,
B, C or D, I know in my heart who my enemies, who the forces of militancy
are,” Ms. Bhutto said.
“I am accusing certain individuals, not the government, who abuse their
positions and their powers,” she said at a press conference.
She revealed that she had been told by a journalist that a senior official
had informed him that there would be an attack on her on the day she
returned.
Ms. Bhutto, who looked remarkably composed despite her close brush with
death, said the government had also received intelligence reports from a
“brother country” of the deployment of four Al-Qaeda suicide squads to kill
her.
Many policemen killed
A number of policemen were killed in the attack. The government
said this proved that there was no let-up in the protection of Ms. Bhutto,
but the crowd was too overwhelming to prevent the attack.
But Ms. Bhutto demanded an enquiry into why the street lights were switched
off on the route of the procession, making it impossible for her security to
spot suspicious-looking people, although she tempered it by saying she was
not blaming the government “at this stage” for the attacks on her.
The PPP leader said Gen. Musharraf was among those who called her to ask
about her well-being, and they discussed the importance of rooting out the
forces of extremism and militancy from Pakistan.
Ms. Bhutto mentioned that BJP leaders L.K. Advani and Jaswant Singh were
among the numerous well-wishers who spoke to her on Friday.
With speculation that the government might postpone the election in view of
the security threats to political leaders, Ms. Bhutto said it was all the
more important that elections must be held.
“If they are not, the situation will worsen. We have to do all we can to
empower the people. We need political solutions to political problems.”
Ms. Bhutto said the attack was aimed at all political parties.
“The message from the attack is that you cannot go out, you cannot campaign,
you cannot mobilise, don’t exercise your fundamental freedom of political
expression,” she said, adding that if the intention had been to intimidate
her or her party, it had just the opposite effect.
“It just makes me more determined about democracy,” she said.
With questions being raised about Ms. Bhutto’s wisdom on insisting on being
part of the process despite a government request that she take a helicopter
out of the airport, PPP leaders said a mass political leader like Ms. Bhutto
could not curtail her activities, but it was the state’s job to provide
adequate security to political leaders.
Describing the security measures as inadequate, Sherry Rehman, the party’s
central information secretary said the attack held serious implications for
the democratic political process.
Privately, senior PPP leaders acknowledged that it could not be “business as
usual” for Ms. Bhutto or the party, and that with an election campaign
ahead, there would have to be significant changes in her style of dealing
with the people.
Musharraf’s directive
PTI reports from Islamabad:
Gen. Musharraf on Friday directed officials to frame an anti-terror law to
tackle rising militancy and extremism and offered to provide an elite
commando squad to protect Ms. Bhutto, in the wake of the attack on her
motorcade.
Gen. Musharraf, who chaired a high-level meeting in Rawalpindi to review the
law and order situation, directed the Defence and Interior Ministries to
draw up the law that would allow security agencies to detain suspects
without charges till the completion of probes into any terrorist attacks,
Dawn News channel reported.
Mr. Musharrafvdirected intelligence and security agencies to strengthen
internal coordination to tackle terrorism and extremism.
Mohtarma Benazir
Bhutto blames militants
October 19, 2007
Karachi: Former Prime Minister Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto said
on Friday she would not give in to the militants whom she blamed for an
assassination attempt against her - a suicide attack that killed up to 136
people and dampened her long-awaited return to Pakistan.
Bhutto said there were two attackers in the deadly bombing, and that her
security guards found a third man armed with a pistol and another with a
suicide vest. Ahead of her arrival, she said, she was warned suicide squads
had been dispatched to kill her.
"There was one suicide squad from the Taliban elements, one suicide squad
from al-Qaida, one suicide squad from Pakistani Taliban and a fourth - a
group - I believe from Karachi," she said.
Baitullah Mehsud, a top militant leader, threatened this month to meet
Bhutto's return to Pakistan with suicide attacks, according to local media
reports. An associate of Mehsud, however, denied Taliban involvement.
Bhutto said her guards prevented more carnage.
"They stood their ground, and they stood all around the truck, and they
refused to let the suicide bomber - the second suicide bomber - get near the
truck," she said.
Bhutto blamed militants for the attack.
'Not prepared to surrender'
"We believe democracy alone can save Pakistan from disintegration and a
militant takeover," she told a news conference. "We are prepared to risk our
lives and we are prepared to risk our liberty, but we are not prepared to
surrender our great nation to the militants."
She did not blame the government, but said it was suspicious that
streetlights failed after sunset on Thursday when her convoy was inching its
way through the streets of Karachi. She said the phones were down, making it
difficult to have the lights restored.
Bhutto said she had prior warning that suicide squads would try to kill her
upon returning home. She said telephone numbers of suicide squads had been
given to her by a "brotherly" country and she alerted President Pervez
Musharraf in a letter dated October 16.
Bhutto claimed the next attack against her would target her homes in Karachi
and her hometown of Larkana, using attackers posing as supporters of a rival
political faction.
She said she was confident the government would take measures to prevent it.
Bhutto said the militants had "gained strength" but that the deteriorating
security situation in Pakistan should not delay elections - slated for
January.
A deadly attack
Bhutto defended her decision to negotiate with Musharraf, who seized power
in a 1999 coup, saying it was aimed at a transition to democracy.
"We believe democracy alone can save Pakistan from disintegration and a
militant takeover," Bhutto said.
The attack was one of the deadliest in Pakistan's history.
Ghulam Muhammad Mohtarem, the top security official in Sindh province where
Karachi is located, suggested Bhutto's camp got carried away celebrating her
return after eight years in exile, and had not taken the need for security
seriously.
Bhutto, however, said she accepted the risks.
Surviving the attack unscathed, the back-to-back explosions went off near a
bulletproof truck that was carrying her and top party officials through the
streets of Karachi.
Just 10 hours after landing in Pakistan, her jubilant homecoming parade
turned into a scene of blood and carnage, ripping victims apart and hurling
a fireball into the sky.
Bhutto narrowly escaped the attack, which shattered the windows of her
truck.
'Menace' of bombings
She said when the first bomb exploded, she was resting her feet
in the middle of the bus.
President Pervez Musharraf, the nation's leader, phoned Bhutto on Friday to
express his shock and grief, and prayed for the former premier's safety and
security, his spokesperson said.
"The president and Ms Bhutto both expressed their unflinching resolve to
fight this scourge of extremism and terrorism. They also agreed that there
was a need for the entire nation to unite in order to rid the country of
this menace of suicide bombings, terrorism and extremism," Qureshi said.
Bhutto had paved her route back to Pakistan through negotiations with
Musharraf, a long-time political rival despite their shared liberal values.
Their talks yielded an amnesty covering the corruption charges that made
Bhutto leave Pakistan.
Bhutto defiant after bombing
By Kim Barker.
October 19, 2007: KARACHI, Pakistan - As
family members collected the dead and searched for the missing, Pakistanis
tried to make sense Saturday of what the deadly attack on the homecoming
procession of Benazir Bhutto means for the turbulent country's future.
No one claimed responsibility for the two blasts, which killed at least 136
people, the highest toll in Pakistan's history. President Pervez Musharraf,
who was involved in negotiations with Bhutto over a possible U.S.-backed
power-sharing deal, called the former prime minister to offer condolences
and pushed for an investigation to be finished as quickly as possible, said
his spokesman Rashid Qureshi. Bhutto, who flew to Karachi from Dubai on
Thursday after eight years of self-imposed exile, was defiant Friday. She
said that two suicide bombers caused the explosions and that her security
forces detained a third man in a suicide belt and a fourth with a gun. She
said she escaped the attack after deciding to rest away from the crowds
because her feet were swollen, her shoes tight and she wanted to work on a
speech.
Bhutto also said she expected another attempt on her life.
"For me, the attack was not on an individual," Bhutto told reporters. "The
attack was not on me. The attack was on what I represent — it was an attack
on democracy."
On Friday, the country struggled with the ramifications of the bombs, which
exploded just after midnight as thousands of well-wishers surrounded
Bhutto's armored truck, danced and shouted slogans. The attacks struck at
the heart of a power-sharing deal between former rivals Bhutto and
Musharraf, facing his biggest crisis since seizing power in a military coup
in 1999. They also raised questions about how any politician will be able to
campaign for the parliamentary elections in January and about how successful
the government has been at fighting terrorists.
But for some here, the crisis was much more personal. Hundreds of thousands
of people came from across Pakistan to welcome Bhutto. On Friday, dozens of
family members and friends showed up at the city morgues of Karachi, looking
for loved ones.
Although there were no official suspects, many blamed Islamic militants.
Bhutto, a liberal, outspoken woman, is hated by many, especially after she
said she would allow U.S. strikes on Pakistani soil. Some said the
government could be behind the attacks, an allegation Qureshi dismissed as
ridiculous.
In recent months, Islamic militants have increased attacks in the country's
remote tribal areas but have also started attacking in the cities. Some
analysts and advocates said Friday that the blasts showed that terrorists
were able to hit anywhere they wanted.
"My greatest concern is there is a complete and utter failure to control any
attack by terrorists," said Iqbal Haider, secretary general of the Human
Rights Commission of Pakistan and former law minister under Bhutto. "There
is no writ of the government."
Western diplomats have said in recent months that the political turmoil in
Pakistan has distracted Musharraf from the U.S.-led war on terror.
Musharraf's attempt to fire the country's chief justice in March sparked
nationwide protests and calls for him to step down as army chief. Musharraf
has indicated he will soon take off his army uniform, as long as his recent
presidential election is not thrown out by the Supreme Court.
Bhutto, a two-time prime minister and leader of the popular Pakistan
People's Party, was seen by the West as a possible stabilizing factor who
could help lead Pakistan toward democracy.
But a purported deal between Musharraf and Bhutto has angered many in
Pakistan. Many supporters were upset that Bhutto, whose father was hanged by
the military ruler who overthrew him and whose party has traditionally
opposed military rule, had signed on with another military leader. And many
Bhutto opponents were angered that the government agreed to dismiss the
corruption charges that caused Bhutto to flee the country in the first
place.
Although Bhutto's husband said Friday that the pending deal might need to be
re-examined, both Musharraf and Bhutto appeared conciliatory toward each
other, despite Bhutto's insinuations that elements linked to the government
could have been behind the attacks. Musharraf called Bhutto on Friday and
said he would take every step possible to catch the perpetrators, Qureshi
said.
"The president expressed his shock and profound grief over the incident and
prayed for the safety and security of Ms. Bhutto," he said.
Bhutto said that Musharraf had called and said he was very sad and pointed
out that he had also been the victim of assassination attempts. She also
said she did not blame the government for the attacks at this time — just
certain people who abused their power.
At her news conference, Bhutto also called for an investigation into why the
street lights were not on along her planned route from the airport to her
home and said that if the street were lit, her security guards would have
been able to spot the suicide bombers who blew themselves up yards from her
armored truck early Friday morning.
"We couldn't see," Bhutto said. "We were moving in the darkness, we could
not see around us."
Bhutto confronts her enemies:
'We will not stop our struggle'
By Andrew Buncombe
October 20, 2007: Shaken but defiant,
Benazir Bhutto has vowed to continue her party's campaign to challenge for
Pakistan's political leadership as planned despite the assassination attempt
that left at least 130 people dead and hundreds injured.
Sixteen hours after her jubilant return to Pakistan turned into tragedy when
a huge explosive device was detonated close to her convoy, Ms Bhutto claimed
she had been targeted because she stood for democracy rather than extremism.
She claimed two suicide bombers were involved in the assault.
The presidential hopeful, looking sombre and wearing a black armband, told
reporters in the garden of her relatives' Karachi home: "We will not stop
our campaign, we will not stop our struggle. Despite the heavy losses we
incurred yesterday, we will continue."
Ms Bhutto demanded that the government launch an immediate inquiry into the
attack, particularly into why street lights had been turned off shortly
before the attack. She claimed had the street lights been on, her security
personnel would have been able to see the attackers and intercept them.
But Ms Bhutto also has questions to answer herself. She has so far failed to
explain why she still insisted on setting off on a slow-moving, vulnerable
convoy through Karachi's streets despite knowing from intelligence sources
that at least four separate suicide cells were planning to attack her.
The wisdom of her decision appeared even more questionable after she
revealed that 20 police officers and 50 young volunteer security guards
drawn from her Pakistan's People's Party (PPP) were among the dead.
Ms Bhutto maintained that those who died did so protecting what she termed
her campaign for democracy. She said: "They stood their ground, and they
stood all around the truck, and they refused to let the suicide bomber – the
second suicide bomber – get near the truck."
Across a tense Karachi, funerals were held for the victims of the blast,
which happened as Ms Bhutto's convoy was making its way to a planned public
rally. There were also calls for restraint. At the city's Baitul Mukkaram
mosque, high-profile cleric and Islamic scholar, Taqi Usmani, led Friday
prayers, saying: "Save us from terrorism, from killings and from bomb
blasts."
At the funeral of Inspector Shahab Khetian, a police veteran and the eldest
of 10 brothers who was part of the security detail accompanying Ms Bhutto,
his nine-year-son Zeeshan cried as the coffin was lowered into the ground.
"Father don't go away, don't take my father away."
Once they have mourned the dead and dealt with the immediate aftermath of
the attack, a key issue for Ms Bhutto and her senior aides will be how best
to spearhead the campaign for upcoming parliamentary elections.
Claiming that the party also has information that attacks are being planned
against her when she returns to her ancestral home of Larkana, the PPP will
have to decide whether it can safely allow Ms Bhutto to have anything than a
very restricted public profile. Such limited exposure could greatly hinder
gaining further support for the PPP, which trades on the reputation of the
former prime minister and her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was hanged by
a military regime in 1979.
Ms Bhutto will undoubtedly seek to use the bombings to further burnish her
self-portrayal as Pakistan's only chance of democracy. However, many people
across the country have questioned her decision to enter a power-sharing
arrangement with President General Pervez Musharraf – a deal that
effectively opened the way for her to return to Pakistan after eight years
of self- imposed exile.
Yesterday she said of the deal: "We want to avoid bloodshed. we want to
avoid loss of life. We believe democracy alone can save Pakistan from
disintegration and a militant takeover. We are prepared to risk our lives
and we are prepared to risk our liberty, but we are not prepared to
surrender our great nation to the militants."
In the frame for attacks
Al-Qa'ida
As the deadly enemies of the US and his ally General Musharraf,
it is inevitable that suspicion should fall on the network headed by Osama
bin Laden, whose secret headquarters is in the tribal no-man's-land of
south-western Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan. She has won their enmity by
allying with Musharraf, enabling him to move smoothly from general to
presidential candidate, and by becoming Washington's darling. She has also
said that she would allow American troops to fight on Pakistani soil –
something Musharraf has also permitted, though reluctantly and secretly.
Taliban
The name of a Pakistani Taliban commander called Baitullah Mehsud
was quickly mentioned among the chief suspects for the explosions as he had
threatened Bhutto with assassination earlier in the month. As a sworn enemy
of "militants", who she says are trying to destroy Pakistan, and as a
secular Muslim opposed to the introduction of shariah law, Bhutto is someone
the fanatical Islamist militia who ruled Afghanistan until deposed by the
United States in 2001 would be glad to be rid of. Mr Mehsud said yesterday
that he had "nothing to do" with the explosions in Karachi.
Secret service
Mrs Bhutto's husband Asif Ali Zardari, speaking from Dubai, was
the first to suggest that the bombs could be the work of agents within
Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan's military secret service. This is not
as far-fetched as may sound since two assassination attempts against General
Musharraf have been carried out by elite forces supposedly committed to
defending him. Rogue elements of ISI have been and probably still are doing
all in their power to help the Taliban.
Al-Qaeda 'behind
Bhutto attack'
By Bruce Loudon
October 20, 2007: A HUGE
security cordon was thrown around Benazir Bhutto's Karachi home last night,
as senior officials claimed the attempted assassination of the former
Pakistani prime minister was the work of al-Qa'ida suicide bombers, who
killed at least 133 people.
The twin blasts that ripped through her homecoming cavalcade represent the
country's most devastating terrorist attack, wounding another nearly 500
people and leading to speculation last night that martial law would be
declared.
Hundreds of heavily armed soldiers surrounded Bilawal House, where a badly
shaken Ms Bhutto was taken in an armoured vehicle after the bombers came
close to killing her as she led a cavalcade of hundreds of thousands of
supporters from the airport shortly after midnight (5am AEDT).
Ms Bhutto escaped injury only because she had answered a call of nature and
momentarily left the upper deck of the fortified truck on which she was
travelling to go to a toilet downstairs.
Her biographer Christina Lamb told British television that Ms Bhutto knew
she was a target. "I was talking to her about it ... she was worried that
the lights were going off, the street lights, and that snipers could be on
the tops of buildings and bridges," she said.
Makhdoom Amin Fahim, the deputy leader of Ms Bhutto's Pakistan People's
Party, and many other party luminaries were among those wounded in the
attack that killed scores of police lining Karsaz Road as security for Ms
Bhutto.
Officials said the attack in the centre of the port city bore the hallmarks
of al-Qa'ida and was similar to its attempts to assassinate President Pervez
Musharraf, who condemned yesterday's bombing as "a conspiracy against
democracy".
The officials said Ms Bhutto was the clear target of the attack, pointing
out that al-Qa'ida had warned it was out to kill her because of her promise
to allow Washington the right to hunt for Osama bin Laden inside Pakistan.
But Ms Bhutto's husband, Asif Ali Zardari, still in exile in Dubai, denied
al-Qa'ida was responsible, reflecting fears Ms Bhutto was walking into a
trap when she chose Karachi as the entry point of her return from eight
years of exile.
"These were not suicide attacks as these were carried out by an intelligence
agency. I have documentary evidence that elements in the Government carried
out these attacks," he said.
Government officials rejected the conspiracy claims, pointing out that
scores of policemen lining Ms Bhutto's route were among the dead and
wounded.
The city of 16 million people is a hotbed of internecine strife, and last
night Ms Bhutto was criticised for insisting on leading a slow cavalcade
through crowded streets that made her "a sitting duck". Security officials
had tried to persuade her to make the journey in a helicopter rather than by
road.
"She doesn't seem to understand that things in Pakistan have changed and
that to travel in the way she did was to make herself a sitting duck for
suicide bombers wanting to kill her. Maybe she's been in exile too long,"
one official said.
A senior PPP official who had spent the previous 10 hours standing close to
Ms Bhutto told The Weekend Australian last night: "We'd spoken about the
possibility of an attack, but never really thought it would happen. There
was such a carnival atmosphere. The arrival had been fantastic and everyone
was so happy."
As General Musharraf met with his security advisers last night, Ms Bhutto -
said by friends to be "strong and resolute" - was also reassessing her
plans.
The blasts have not only upset the carefully choreographed arrangements for
her return to political life in Pakistan, but cast a cloud of hopes for the
country's return to democracy.
A senior Western diplomat in Islamabad said it was "hard to imagine" that
general elections scheduled for January and aimed at restoring democracy
could go ahead.
Bhutto Says She Knew
of Threats Against Her Before Arriving in Pakistan
19 October 2007: Former
Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto says she knew she was a target for
assassination when she returned home to Karachi this week, but that she
decided not to allow such threats to change her plans.
Speaking to reporters Friday at her family home in Karachi, Ms. Bhutto said
a foreign government had informed her that four assassination teams,
including suicide squads from the Taliban and al-Qaida, were planning
attacks against her.
Deadly explosions that ripped through a crowd greeting Ms. Bhutto Thursday
killed at least 136 people and wounded hundreds of others. While mourning
the casualties, the former prime minister said she cannot let such attacks
set back her political efforts in Pakistan.
The bombs were not an attack on her, Ms. Bhutto said, but on democracy, and
on Pakistan's integrity. She says she is not prepared to surrender Pakistan
to militants.
A top Taliban commander has denied any involvement in Thursday's carnage,
and no other group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which has been
strongly condemned around the world. President Pervez Musharraf also has
denounced the attack, and he is promising a thorough investigation.
Pakistani Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao says officials urged Ms. Bhutto
not to drive through Karachi's clogged streets, for security reasons, and
advised her to fly into the center of the southern port city by helicopter.
Sherpao said the leadership of Ms. Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party refused
to agree to a flight, so they bear some responsibility for the attack.
Defiant Bhutto vows
to fight on
Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto says she will
carry on her struggle for democracy, despite an attack on her motorcade that
killed 133 people as she returned home after eight years of exile.
Holding her first press conference since escaping the assassination bid by
suicide bombers in Karachi, Ms Bhutto blamed Islamic militants for the
attack and questioned why the street lighting was not working on the stretch
of road where the attack happened.
She said that before her return from self-imposed exile a "brotherly
country" had told her four suicide squads were being prepared by Taliban and
Al Qaeda elements.
She said the bosses of these militants were the ones really to blame - an
apparent reference to retired military generals that she pointed the finger
at earlier.
Ms Bhutto said she expected more attempts on her life, and feared an
assassin could be planted in the police.
And she said she had written to Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf naming
three people who represented the forces of militancy.
"I am not accusing the government. I am accusing people, certain individuals
who abuse their positions. Who abuse their powers."
Meanwhile the White House has stopped short of blaming Al Qaeda or any
specific group for the attack.
The US has condemned the attack as "an horrific tragedy" but declined to
blame any specific group for the bombings.
"I don't have any specific information on who it might be, which
organisation. I think you could say, broadly, Islamic extremists is probably
accurate," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.
"They see someone like the former prime minister as a threat.
"We want to see democracy flourish, especially a moderate Islamic democracy
in that important region."
"It tells you a lot about the kinds of people we are battling against every
day, that any flicker of democracy they want to find a way to beat it down
and stamp it out."
Prime Minister John Howard said the attacks bore the hallmarks of Al Qaeda.
Chance to be daughter
of East, again
New Delhi, October 20, 2007:
Benazir Bhutto’s first comments after the bomb attacks on her convoy
in Karachi seemed geared at generating the kind of political consensus
Pakistan direly needs to fight terrorism.
The PPP chairperson neither blamed the government, nor any of her political
adversaries, terming the attack on her person as one against the entire
political class. As the PPP is arguably the only party with a pan-Pakistan
presence, she said the suicide bombing was at once an assault on the unity
and integrity of Pakistan.
“We are the only party whose support cuts across ethnic, provincial, class
and religious divides,” asserted Benazir at a press conference meant to
reach her message of ‘unity against terror’ to the domestic and
international audience.
In personally naming all those who showed empathy and condemned the
bombings, she attempted to lay the basis, or so it appeared, of a broader
front against terrorism.
On the long list of those who reached out to her after the dastardly
incident were former Premier Nawaz Sharif, whom General Pervez Musharraf has
forced to live in exile in Saudi Arabia and Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM)
leader Altaf Hussain.
Benazir went out of the way, in fact, to dispel rumours that the MQM could
have a role in Thursday’s incident that left nearly 150 dead and several
hundred injured.
If taken forward with the intensity she betrayed on Friday, her efforts,
even if unsuccessful at immediately forging an anti-terror platform, would
reduce the element of bitterness, the deep rancour that has forever vitiated
politics in Pakistan.
In the early 1990s, Benazir, then Leader of Opposition, wasn’t even on
talking terms with Sharif, the PM.
In this backdrop, the attack could be a blessing in disguise for the PPP
leader whose decision to cut a deal with Musharraf hadn’t gone down well
with even a huge section of her hardcore supporters. The National
Reconciliation Ordinance, the General signed to insulate her from graft
charges, was a joke by virtue of its very nomenclature.
Benazir knows no genuine political reconciliation in Pakistan is possible
without Sharif’s direct participation in elections. The country’s fight
against terror — and her own image — will get a big boost if she is able to
persuade Musharraf to get over his fear of a PPP-PML(N) rapprochement and
allow the former Premier to return home.
As pointed out by senior Pakistani journalist Mariana Babbar in a BBC
discussion, Benazir’s conciliatory approach could well become a casualty in
the rough and tumble of electoral politics.
But the bloodletting in Karachi does offer her the opportunity of an image
makeover. Derided lately as the daughter of the west for being on
Musharraf’s side and that of the US, she has a chance to again become the
East’s iconic daughter — who drew millions to Lahore on her return home in
1986 after a long exile.
Pakistan Bombings
Unlikely to Halt Bhutto's Ascent
by Corey Flintoff
The massive bombings in Karachi shattered what had been a
triumphant homecoming for former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, but they are
unlikely to stop her return to the spotlight of Pakistani politics, analysts
say.
Some experts say Bhutto has a good chance of serving as prime minister for
an unprecedented third term. But they question how much real power she'll
have under a deal with Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf. Others say
that even if she gains power, there's no indication that she'll wield it any
better than she did in two previous administrations.
Selig Harrison, the director of the Asia Program at the Center for
International Policy in Washington, says Musharraf wants a civilian to front
for his military government.
"He wants Bhutto to be prime minister, but he wants a prime minister without
much power," Harrison says. He predicts that Musharraf will rig the
elections in January so that Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party will win, but
not with a decisive majority.
Harrison says Bhutto's party could make an even better showing in a free and
fair election, but he predicts that Musharraf's intelligence agencies will
intimidate potentially strong candidates from the party and keep them from
running. That, he says, should give Bhutto enough seats in parliament to
become prime minister, but not enough to allow her to be independent from
the military.
Another observer says that even if Bhutto returns to real power, she may not
be much of an improvement over Musharraf. Zia Mian, a professor at
Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, cites
Bhutto's performance during her second administration, which began in 1993.
He says it was a good time for Bhutto because she had strong working
relations with the country's president, but he says it was a "bad time for
Pakistan."
Bhutto's government "quickly became notorious for being corrupt and for bad
management," Mian says. He says Bhutto resorted to "very draconian measures"
when she was faced with opposition from a party representing muhajirs,
Muslims who moved to the country from India when Pakistan was created.
Bhutto's measures included "arbitrary arrests and torture of people in
police custody," Mian says.
Mian also points to what he calls Bhutto's "embrace" of the Taliban movement
in neighboring Afghanistan, noting that her Islamist political allies helped
form the Taliban as a counterweight to a corrupt and unstable government in
Kabul.
"It's very troubling," Mian says, "that she was willing to have that kind of
relationship with these people. The Taliban's politics haven't changed."
Harrison of the Center for International Policy says a Bhutto victory won't
threaten Musharraf's control of the country.
"Musharraf's power will be reduced, but not in the areas he really cares
about," such as defense and control of Pakistan's economy, Harrison says.
And that highlights the main reason that the military is holding on to power
more tenaciously than it has in the past, the analyst says.
"They have established a huge conglomerate of businesses in Pakistan, so
they have an economic stake," Harrison says.
Both Harrison and Mian say Bhutto's party and other opposition groups will
support her, despite her willingness to deal with Musharraf.
Bhutto's party "is still at the stage of being a charismatic party rather
than a democratic party," Mian says. "It was founded by Bhutto's father, and
she has continued in control by centralizing decision-making."
As for those who are unhappy with the Musharraf compromise, Harrison says,
Bhutto is "the only thing the opposition forces have at the moment."
Bhutto says she
warned of plotting days before attack
By Carlotta Gall and Salman Masood
October 19, 2007:
KARACHI, Pakistan: The Pakistani opposition leader Benazir
Bhutto, who narrowly survived a bloody suicide attack Thursday night, said
Friday she had sent a letter to President Pervez Musharraf days ago listing
names and other specific information about people in the Pakistani
government and security forces who were plotting against her.
She did not expressly blame the government or give the names in a news
conference Friday, less than 24 hours after the attack, in which two
explosions killed 134 people and wounded 450. Friday, she and the
authorities in Karachi blamed Islamist militants for carrying out the
bombing.
But she said it was suspicious that streetlights failed after sunset
Thursday when her convoy was moving through the streets of Karachi, The AP
reported. "We were scanning the crowd with the floodlights, but it was
difficult to scan the crowds because there was so much darkness," she said,
according to The AP
The explosions took place just feet from a truck in which Bhutto was
traveling during a triumphal procession marking her return to Pakistan after
eight years in exile.
The AP said Bhutto had written to Musharraf on Oct. 16. In an interview
Friday published on the Web site of Paris-Match, Bhutto said, "I know
exactly who is trying to kill me," blaming officials who had belonged to the
regime of the former president, General Mohammad Zia ul-Haq, who seized
power in 1977 when he arrested and hanged Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali
Bhutto, Bhutto's father. She said those officials were behind the extremism
and fanaticism troubling the country and had to be purged from the secret
services. Taliban and Islamist extremists "cannot act on their own," she
said in the interview. "They need logistics, food, weapons and someone to
supervise them."
Bhutto had retreated inside the armored truck a few minutes before the
attack and was unhurt, but scores of people were killed among the huge
crowds of perhaps 200,000 or more. It was a bloody end to the triumphal
tenor of her homecoming. She was returning to Pakistan to lead her party in
the parliamentary elections scheduled for January.
Accounts of the attack differed somewhat: local security officials blamed a
lone suicide bomber, but Bhutto was quoted by The Associated Press as saying
that there were several attackers.
At a news conference in Karachi Friday, the home secretary of Sindh
Province, Ghulam Mohatarem, said a single suicide bomber first threw a
grenade to disrupt the security cordon around Bhutto's procession before
lunging at the truck and detonating the explosives he was wearing.
But Bhutto said at a later news conference that there had been two
attackers, and that her security guards had also found a third man armed
with a pistol and a fourth with an undetonated suicide vest, according to
The AP
She said her guards had prevented more deaths. "They stood their ground, and
they stood all around the truck, and they refused to let the suicide bomber
— the second suicide bomber — get near the truck," she said, The AP
reported.
"We believe democracy alone can save Pakistan from disintegration and a
militant takeover," she added. "We are prepared to risk our lives and we are
prepared to risk our liberty, but we are not prepared to surrender our great
nation to the militants."
Mohatarem said that a police vehicle in the attacker's path had taken the
brunt of the explosion. Pellets and ball bearings had been packed with the
explosives, he said, and accounted for the high number of casualties in the
dense crowd. He could not confirm that a head found at the scene was that of
the attacker, but he said he believed the attacker belonged to one of the
extremist Islamist groups active in Pakistan.
"We do not know which group but one of the extremist groups," he said.
There were no claims of responsibility. The Associated Press had quoted
Mohatarem earlier as saying that the attack bore the hallmarks of a
pro-Taliban Pakistani militant commander, Baitullah Mehsud, who has been
linked to Al Qaeda and is active near the Afghan border. He had threatened
to send suicide bombers to attack Bhutto because of her strong support for
the fight against terrorism.
However, Bhutto's husband, Asif Ali Zardari, said he blamed some in
Pakistan's intelligence agencies who felt threatened by Bhutto.
Bhutto, who had spent eight hours on the open roof of the truck waving to
supporters, had climbed inside 10 minutes before the blasts occurred just
before midnight, said Rehman Malik, her security adviser and close
associate.
Carnage in Karachi
October 20, 2007: The
twin bomb attack on Benazir Bhutto’s convoy, abruptly ending an all-too rare
night of hope, underscores the deadly battle Pakistan faces in its search
for democracy and moderation. The attack, carried out in typical al Qaeda
style, could well be the handiwork of Islamist militants who had threatened
to assassinate Benazir.
However, more disturbing is the possibility of the blasts having links to
hardline elements within the army and intelligence establishment.
These elements, who see Benazir’s return as part of the US plan to wage war
on ‘jehadi’ Islam using the Pakistani state as proxy, have earlier
demonstrated their ability to strike well-defended targets, including
Musharraf himself.
Even within the political parties, there is an extremely dangerous rift
opening up between the ‘secular’ and the ‘religious’ — the ruling PML(Q)
itself has a large conservative votebank, leading it to be ambivalent on
issues like fighting militants in the tribal areas. The clerical elite, too,
is a crucial factor in politics. Indeed, the biggest contradiction facing
Pakistan today is how to reconcile the large section of its radicalised
polity with a democratic process.
The ‘return to democracy’ envisaged in the power-sharing deal between
Musharraf and Benazir was a necessity, given they both need each other. Of
course, if things are not to the General’s liking, he could still bring down
the curtains on this exercise.
For now, it’s unlikely that the Supreme Court will move against Musharraf’s
candidacy, or on the corruption cases against Benazir. The real clash
between Benazir and Musharraf might also come later, but right now her
return has sparked high celebrations and hopes, reminiscent of her earlier
return in 1986.
That welcome was to turn sour during both her terms as PM, with allegations
of massive corruption. Considering that her becoming PM again is part of the
General’s plan, with US blessings, it remains to be seen whether Benazir can
live up to the popular enthusiasm.
Conceiving a quantum change in Pakistan’s polity is difficult, given its
lack of democratic institutions and the deep inroads extremism has made.
Still, the nascent ‘secular combine’ remains the best bet, for Pakistan and
its neighbours, for the emergence of a consensus to effectively fight
extremists.
It was
a close call for PPP leadership
By Ashfaq Ahmed,
October 20, 2007:
The top leadership of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was on board
the truck along with party chairperson Benazir Bhutto at the time of the
blasts.
Speaking to Gulf News, Senator Babar Awan, a senior PPP leader, said that
most of the party leaders had settled down for some refreshments when the
first explosion was heard. "Many of us were thrown back on the roof of the
truck. Even before we realised, a second more powerful explosion left human
remains and blood everywhere."
Rehman Malik, Bhutto's security advisor, recalled being flung into the air
for a moment after the blast.
"Raja Pervez Ashraf's clothes caught fire and we put it out," he said.
Malik said the blasts were so intense that even the special bulletproof
truck was not spared.
Qasim Zia, who is leader of the PPP's opposition ranks in the Punjab
Assembly, said: "The rally was peaceful and we thought it was a fire cracker
going off when the first blast was heard but soon there were bodies all over
the road."
Some leaders escaped with bruises while two female party leaders, Abida
Hussain and Fouzia Wahab, were injured.
My home to be targeted
next: Benazir
October 19, 2007: KARACHI:
A defiant Benazir Bhutto on Friday strongly condemned the bomb attacks on
her homecoming parade in Karachi that killed 139 people, saying the victims
made the 'ultimate sacrifice' for democracy.
Giving a clean chit to the Musharraf government for the attack, Bhutto said
that she exactly knew who her enemies were.
"It is not the government, but some individuals in the government who are
behind this...I know in my heart exactly who my enemies are," she told a
press conference in her first comments since the attack.
Bhutto said that she has written a letter to Musharraf and named three
suspects who she thinks are behind the Karachi blasts.
"The next attack is going to be near my house in Clifton or in Larkana.
Commandos will be sent in the garb of supporters of a political party and
the attack will be blamed on that party," she said adding that the real
perpetrators were just using political parties as a 'red herring'
Bhutto said that the carnage was not an attack on an individual but an
attempt to muffle democracy.
"It was an attack on what I represent. It was an attack on democracy,"
Bhutto told mediamen.
"The Pakistan People's Party strongly condemns the attacks on its peaceful
procession last night,"
"Our hopes, prayers and sympathy lie with those who made the ultimate
sacrifice for the cause of democracy. Their sacrifice will not go in vain,"
she added, calling for an urgent official inquiry into the incident.
Bhutto was unhurt in the blasts, having climbed into her specially fortified
vehicle just moments before the bomb and a grenade seconds earlier ripped
through crowds welcoming her back to Karachi after eight years in exile.
The streets, packed with hundreds of thousands of her jubilant supporters,
quickly became a scene of bloody carnage. The campaign bus was scorched and
dented.
Dubai gears up for
Benazir's October 18 return to Pakistan
Dubai, Oct.8 2007:
Exiled political leader Benazir Bhutto and her party are gearing
up in Dubai for a much-hyped return to Pakistan even as political
uncertainty sweeps across the country.
According to Choudhary Zubair Bashir, the Middle-East spokesperson for the
Pakistan People's Party (PPP) based in Dubai, nothing would stop Bhutto from
returning to Pakistan on October 18.
Bhutto returned to the UAE from the UK on Friday to spend time with her
family before she heads off to Pakistan, the web site 7days.ae reported.
Bhutto and PPP members are preparing for the end of her eight-year exile
even after Pakistan's military ruler Pervez Musharraf won a landslide
victory in a controversial Presidential election on Saturday, one that was
boycotted by all opposition parties including the PPP.
"The spirits of the party members are very high and we have been waiting for
this moment since a long time. What happened in Pakistan yesterday has no
significance to us. There is no change in our plans to return," Zubair was
quoted, as saying.
Bhutto is expected to leave for Pakistan from Dubai with a fleet of party
members and media officials from all around the world.
On Friday, Bhutto arrived in Dubai with her husband Asif Ali Zardari and is
expected to celebrate Eid with her family at her house in the Emirates
Hills.
Party members told 7DAYS that the mood in the Bhutto family is upbeat and no
one expects trouble when she returns.
"Musharraf has agreed to all our demands. He dropped all corruption charges
against Bhutto and also promised free and fair elections. These are very
positive signs," said Mohammed Akram Farooqi, PPP party President in the UAE.
Bhutto's negotiations with Musharraf ended last week with the President
giving her a clean chit on all counts of corruption.
While the Bhutto is aiming to hold the Prime Minister's post for the third
time, some members say it's too early to celebrate the agreement between
them. "The president is known to change his stand often," remarked another
PPP leader.
Bhutto served as prime minister - from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 to
1996. She was dismissed for alleged corruption on both occasions and left
Pakistan in 1999, although she was never convicted.
Last month, Bhutto said she felt confident that the people of Pakistan would
"rally around me" because they wanted democracy in Pakistan restored.
Parliamentary elections are expected to be held by January 2008.
Bhutto's talks with the government is an indicator that her party may be
willing to accept Musharraf as President for a second consecutive term
provided he gives up his army chief's uniform.
Musharraf has said that he will give the post of Chief of Army Staff once
the Supreme Court rules in his favour on petitions contesting his right to
contest the presidential elections and be the president of the country for
another five years.
General elections in
Pakistan likely on Dec 27 or 28
Lahore
October 08, 2007: For the people of Pakistan, Dec 27 or 28 may
well be the D-Day (D for democracy). General elections are being planned for
these dates.
The government is considering these dates, and whether to hold the elections
to the national assembly and the four provincial legislatures
simultaneously, Daily Times said Monday, quoting unnamed sources.
The report said that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) would
announce the election schedule within 10 days of the Supreme Court (SC)
verdict on pending petitions regarding the presidential elections, likely to
be decided by Oct 17.
They said that the assemblies would probably be dissolved in the last week
of October on the advice of the prime minister and provincial chief
ministers.
The general elections would then be held under the supervision of an interim
set-up within 60 days.
Private news television channel Geo News reported Sunday that a caretaker
prime minister and caretaker chief ministers would take oath Nov 16.
It said the government planned to form such a government with the consensus
of all political parties.
It stated that candidates for appointment to the posts of caretaker prime
minister and chief ministers are currently being considered.
Following a deal between President Pervez Musharraf and former prime
minister Benazir Bhutto, her Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the
government are currently discussing the formation of the caretaker
government.
According to the TV channel, the government has accepted the PPP's demand
that nazims (senior-most civil officials at district level) would not be
allowed to influence the election process. It said that the Election
Commission would put certain restrictions on nazims to bar them from
interfering in the general elections.
The PPP had expressed its reservations on the local government system and
said that nazims could use state machinery to rig the polls.
The new face of
Pakistan's army
David Blair
October
8, 2007: You may not have heard of General Ashfaq Pervez Kiani,
but he is about to become an immensely significant figure. When Pervez
Musharraf is officially re-elected as Pakistan’s president, he has agreed to
step down as the country’s army chief. His replacement will, in all
likelihood, be Kiani.
If Pakistan is the lynchpin of the war on terrorism, then Kiani will be the
man it all depends on. It will be his job to bring the Tribal Areas lining
the frontier with Afghanistan under the control of the central government.
Little is known about Kiani, except for the fact that he is a respected
professional soldier. But what are his opinions on Musharraf decision to
position Pakistan as a key Western ally? One must assume that he agrees with
his boss.
But as army commander, Kiani will have a powerbase that could give him the
chance to challenge Musharraf. In the past, army chiefs have been the most
powerful men in Pakistan. We will soon learn much more about Kiani.
Threats get Bhutto
US-trained security guards
By Isambard Wilkinson in Islamabad
Ms Bhutto, who is due to return to Pakistan
on Oct 18 after eight years in self-imposed exile, has already received
death threats from Islamic militants.
Her security adviser, Rehman Malik, said that he had asked Pakistan's
government to provide Ms Bhutto with security.
"We have demanded that the government give Benazir Bhutto security on a par
with that afforded to President Pervez Musharraf," he said.
"We want to make it quite clear that the government is fully responsible for
Ms Bhutto's security."
advertisementGen Musharraf, who has survived three assassination attempts,
is protected by a US-trained security unit that uses US-supplied
heat-seeking sensors and electronic-jamming shields.
At the weekend Gen Musharraf signed an amnesty clearing Ms Bhutto of
corruption charges as part of a power-sharing deal backed by America and
Britain.
Asked whether America would assist in protecting Ms Bhutto, a Western
diplomat said: "Efforts are being made in all directions to work with the
Pakistan government to make sure they have the highest level of security for
her."
Ms Bhutto has already made some security preparations of her own. After
several weeks of haggling with authorities in the volatile port city of
Karachi, where she is due to land, her Pakistan's People's Party has
received permission to import a bullet-proof car.
Last week, Baitullah Mehsud, a pro-Taliban commander based in the tribal
area of South Waziristan, said that he would dispatch a "suicide squad" to
greet Ms Bhutto.
Yesterday, a helicopter accompanying Gen Musharraf on a visit to Kashmir
crashed in flames, killing four people on board and injuring the general's
spokesman.
The crash revived memories of how the country's previous military ruler, Gen
Zia-ul Haq, died in an unexplained explosion on board a Pakistani military
helicopter in 1988.
Ikram Sehgal, the chairman of a private security company working with the
American embassy in Islamabad, said: "Frankly speaking, Benazir Bhutto is at
a very high risk in Pakistan because she has riled religious conservatives.
It will be a very tough job to protect her."
Ms Bhutto's father was hanged in 1979 by Gen Zia and a conservative faction
within the army that later conspired to topple her first government.
Her two brothers were murdered.
Gen Musharraf confirmed yesterday that he was to promote Gen Ashfaq Kiyani,
a key loyalist and former spymaster, to be deputy army chief.
The appointment seals Gen Kiyani as his successor once the president
surrenders his uniform to finally assume civilian rule following his
re-election at the weekend to serve a five-year term.
US stays engaged with
Musharraf, Benazir : Concern in Washington over ex-PM’s security
By Anwar Iqbal
WASHINGTON, Oct 8: Former prime minister
Benazir Bhutto spoke with President Pervez Musharraf during her visit to
Washington two weeks ago, diplomatic sources told Dawn.
The telephone call to Gen Musharraf, according to these sources, was made
from the office of Congressman Tom Lantos, the powerful chairman of the
House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Also, on Thursday US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telephoned both Gen
Musharraf and Ms Bhutto to ensure that they had reached an agreement, the
sources added. The next day, the Musharraf government announced that it
would drop criminal cases pending in Pakistan against Ms Bhutto, fulfilling
her key demand.
The two telephone calls show the extent of Washington’s involvement in
Pakistani politics and contradict the State Department’s repeated assurance
that while the US backs the formation of “a moderate political centre in
Pakistan, it does not favour any particular candidate or party.”
Congressman Lantos, although a strong advocate for democratic reforms in
Pakistan, also enjoys good relations with Gen Musharraf. He played a key
role in attaching democratic reforms as one of the conditions for continued
US assistance to Pakistan to a new law the US Congress passed earlier this
year.
Neither Ms Bhutto nor the congressman publicly discussed the conversation
but the sources said that Mr Lantos spoke briefly with President Musharraf
and then passed the phone to the PPP leader.
Ms Bhutto’s September visit to Washington was more fruitful than her
previous visits. She was everywhere in the media – from Washington Post to
CNN – giving interviews, writing articles and issuing statements. She also
met several senior US officials and about a dozen lawmakers. At least two
cabinet-level officials attended the dinner hosted by a Pakistani-American
member of the Republican Party.
Senior officials stayed away from the dinner Ms Bhutto hosted in return, as
the Bush administration does not want to be seen as endorsing the
Musharraf-Bhutto deal. Several lawmakers, however, attended the dinner.
During her visit, Ms Bhutto appeared particularly concerned about her
security in Pakistan and also sought US support in assuring that the MQM
would not resist her plan to land in Karachi on Oct. 18.
Concerns in Washington over Ms Bhutto’s security increased after a
pro-Taliban insurgent leader Baitullah Mehsud threatened on Sunday to target
Bhutto when she returns to the country.
“We don’t accept Musharraf and Bhutto because they only protect US interests
and see things through its glasses. They’re only acceptable if they wear the
Pakistani glasses,” Mehsud was quoted as saying. Responding to the
statement, Ms Bhutto acknowledged that she took such threats seriously. ‘’I
know there are security risks, people who want to kill me and to scuttle the
restoration of democracy,’’ Bhutto said in an interview with the Sunday
Times ahead of her planned return home on October 18. “But with my faith in
God and trust in the people of Pakistan, I’m sure the party workers will be
there and will protect me,” she added.
Judging without
Evidence
Jameel Soomro's letter to Nusrat Javed
Dear Nusrat Javed,
The programme “Bolta Pakistan” is a healthy debate most of the time.
However, Mr. Mushtaq Minhas many times forgets himself as professional
journalist and appears to be like once Saifur Rehman was in his heydays
about the popular leadership of the country. Mr. Minhas went on to describe
Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari as ‘most corrupt couple’. He
just appeared as a judge as the one acted on the orders of Saifur Rehman.
Though in legal parlance, everybody is innocent until proven guilty.
Such an approach towards the most popular leader of Pakistan dents his
credentials as a neutral and independent journalist. Perhaps declaring the
National Reconciliation Ordinance with digesting $1.5 billion corruption
charges money ordinance shows either lack of knowledge on his part, or Mr.
Minhas has a Saifur Rehman and NAB software in his mind.
Bhuttos had always been the target of Establishment ever since they awakened
the people of Pakistan to their rights as equal citizens of Pakistan.
Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was physically assassinated while character
assassination attempts were made on his daughter Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto.
Their PPP had been the worst victimized political party in the history of
Pakistan for many decades. Being the largest representative of civil
society, the PPP workers faced unmatched atrocities in the recent history of
democratic movements in the world.
Let us turn to the pages of history where Maulana Maudoodi and Maulana Abdus
Sattar Niazi were pardoned by withdrawing death penalty awarded to them.
Supreme Court banned National Awami Party (NAP) in 70’s. General Ziaul Haq
dissolved Hyderabad Tribunal and exonerated all the nationalist leaders
being tried by the Tribunal. Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was led to
Saroor Palace from jail cell and his conviction awarded by court withdrawn
against the promise that he would not take part in politics for agreed
years.
All these politicians were convicted whether correctly or incorrectly, but
Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari have not been convicted by any
court of law even after dragging them from one court to other for 12 years
by six different governments all opposed to its liberal politics. Still, for
Mr. Mushtaq Minhas they are the ‘most corrupt couple’ but he seems silence
and deprives the viewers of Bolta Pakistan from his ‘independent’ comments
on the immunity given to the above politicians.
Following the death of ‘Ghazi’ General Ziaul Haq ‘Shaheed’, IJI was
fabricated by Ustad Hameed Gul, then ISI chief. Whom the Establishment
wanted to stop through IJI? Who were the politicians distributed with Rs140
million and against whom? The case is still pending with Supreme Court.
Which leader met with Osama Bin Laden and in whose place in Lahore. Whom Bin
Laden offered $10 million for dislodging whose government?
For his information, PPP had been the worst affected party during last eight
years. Its MPAs and workers were gunned down, bombed, and massacred. Whose
seats were stolen through bye-elections? Whose candidates and supporters
were kidnapped, tortured and killed?
PPP only seeks free and fair election because it has always been deprived of
its mandate through rigged elections. However, the PPP always trusts that
power rests with the people.
With Warm Regards,
Jameel Soomro
Mohtarma Bhutto
welcomes Citizen’s Group proposals on election reforms
Islamabad, 7
October 2007: Former Prime Minister and Chairperson of the
Pakistan Peoples Party Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto has welcomed the proposals by
The Citizens' Group on Electoral Process (CGEP) a group consisting of
eminent Pakistanis from the fields of law, judiciary, media, academics and
research with the help of Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and
Transparency (PILDAT), on proposed electoral reforms.
In a statement today she said the PPP endorsed the proposals including
real-time posting of polling station-wise results on the Election
Commission’s website and that local governments be made dysfunctional from
the date of announcement of election schedule till the finalisation of
election results.
In place of dysfunctional Nazims and Naib Nazims, administrators belonging
to the civil bureaucracy should be appointed during the period.
The Group has urged the Election Commission to exercise control,
superintendence and discipline on the staff assigned to it for election
duty.
The CGEP also said that key proposals such as appointment of a consensus
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and a recommendation that the post of the
CEC should not necessarily be filled from the judiciary, but by persons of
repute from any field.
National
Reconciliation is the Key Word
By Wajid Shamsul Hasan
October 6, 2007: Repeatedly over the years-being a silent
witness to slow death-I have been urging for a national effort in totality
to save the country from speedily going down the slide. Besides, I have been
pleading for the restoration of democracy through free, fair and
transparent polls with level playing field for all the political parties and
their leaders. By and large, I had believed that return of democracy coupled
with genuine national reconciliation can stop the dangerous drift towards a
gory end.
The dangerous drift threatening the country had evolved a generally
acceptable consensus for national reconciliation at all levels including
various organs of the state. Though there was much talk of it, no concrete
steps were-however-- seen to be taken. The greatest irony mocking the fate
of the country was religion. While the mullahs never got tired of re-labelling
Pakistan as a bigoted religious state as against its original secular and
liberal raison de etre as envisioned by its founding father Quaid-i-Azam
Muhammad Ali Jinnah, at the end of the day religion has come to be the most
divisive factor in the body politics and socio-economic fabric of the
society.
Like her martyred father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and
her party-the PPP-have also been struggling dauntlessly and relentlessly for
the establishment of an unadulterated democracy, rule of law, pluralism and
a well-nourished and profoundly nurtured democratic culture of tolerance and
peaceful co-existence to make Pakistan strong and a model of a democracy for
emulation by other Muslim countries.
The post 9-11 events and developments had shrouded Pakistan's future under a
dark cloud of uncertainty. And the rise of Al-Qaeda and growth of
Talibanisation had been eroding the civil society to the extent that it
could have a Red Mosque in the heart of Pakistan's capital to raise the
banner of obscurantist revolt and threaten the very fabric of the state.
Such an eruption had been due to wrong policies of running with the hare and
hunting with the hounds. And finally the Red Mosque fiasco brought the fact
that chickens had come home to roast. And I am sure its failure to realise
the fallacies of its policies and the pressure from outside, has also forced
the powers that be to get down to correctly reading the writing on the wall.
The National Reconciliation Ordinance approved by the cabinet and singed by
the President is perhaps one of the major steps taken yet towards creating a
national consensus that could emerge as an insurmountable force for ushering
in normalcy in the country and to stop its drift to its forced
talibanisation.
General Pervez Musharraf's assertion in so many words-- in his interview on
the eve of the culmination of his dialogue with PPP to Geo's anchor Kamran
Khan that whether he likes it or not-PPP under Benazir Bhutto-is a
formidable political force to reckon with and that he would like to broaden
his effort for national reconciliation to involve other political parties
too-though late-is a realisation that if translated into action-- could
usher in healthy and constructive change all around.
At the end of the day-her critics too-would ultimately realise how well she
played her cards. In the process she has risen higher than others in the
national political arena, did not involve her personal likes or dislikes and
preferred to seek democratic dividends for the nation rather than self. And
not only that the very fact that the mountain came to her-has vindicated her
innocence despite the plethora of propaganda against her.
Notwithstanding that there is still a long way to go, it is better late than
never-that a start has been made in the right direction. A free, fair and
transparent election in due course of time with level playing field for
all-can go a long way in pulling back the country from the edge of the
precipice.
HSF seeks security
for Benazir Bhutto
KARACHI: NGO Human Safety Foundation (HSF)
moved the Sindh High Court on Thursday, seeking security for Benazir Bhutto,
PPP chairperson, when she arrives in Karachi on Oct 18, ending seven years
of self exile.
The petition was filed by HSF Feroza of through counsel Shafqat Shah Masoomi
advocate. The petitioner stated that Bhutto is the most popular politician
of the country with a support base in all four provinces. She is an
egalitarian and visionary leader who is against extremism and terrorism,
Talibanization and increasing religion-based politics and therefore is
vulnerable to extremist threats.
The counsel, apprehending serious threats to her security on her arrival as
scheduled, has sought directions from the SHC to the police and local
administration to make foolproof security arrangements when she lands at
Jinnah International Airport Karachi on Oct 18. The petition is likely to
come up for hearing on Monday, Oct 8.
NRO not PPP specific,
says Benazir Bhutto
LAHORE: Former premier
Benazir Bhutto on Thursday rejected the impression that the National
Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) was brought to benefit the Pakistan People’s
Party (PPP) alone, saying the reconciliation was reached to benefit all
political parties, including the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Geo news
reported. She demanded a level-playing field for all political parties, and
said untried cases against politicians must be withdrawn. She said cases
against Nawaz Sharif and Javed
Hashmi would also be withdrawn under the NRO.
Immunity alone not
enough: No understanding yet on immunity bill
Islamabad October
2, 2007: Commenting on speculations and claims made by some
Ministers about immunity bill a spokesperson of the PPP has issued the
following statement.
"There is no settlement on the immunity bill as the PPP immunity bill has
not been approved by government.
"The notification on appointment of Vice Chief of Army Staff is being
considered by experts to see if it is meant for him to become Chief of Army
Staff as per PPP demand for General Musharraf leaving the position as Chief
of Army Staff.
"Government and the PPP still not seeing eye to eye on lifting of the ban on
twice elected prime minister.
"As far as the PPP is concerned, there is no understanding yet due to
refusal of regime to move towards democracy.
"The present announcements are being made for propaganda purposes and the
PPP urges the media to dismiss them. If there is an understanding it will be
a joint announcement.
"The regime wants to give immunity to 80 parliamentarians who defected from
PPP and PML N and those officials in NAB who fabricated cases and is
spinning it as a PPP bill.
"This is not a PPP immunity bill and as PPP has said that immunity on its
own is not enough. The regime must move towards democracy and taking off the
uniform".
PPP not to provide
numbers for no confidence move in Frontier Assembly
Islamabad October
02, 2007: Spokesperson of the PPP has said that if the APDM
decides to dissolve the Frontier Assembly, the Pakistan Peoples Party would
not provide numbers to the PML Q and allies to move a no confidence bill to
save the Frontier Assembly.
Without the PPP numbers the assembly cannot be requisitioned and it will be
dissolved, he said.
PPP took this decision to test whether APDM really intends to resign from
the Assembly or is trying to deceive the people by claiming it will resign
but in fact is working covertly with the military regime to not resign from
the provincial assembly, he said.
Further the PPP will take decision to boycott, participate or resign from
assemblies on October 3 and 4.
He said that so far the PPP and government have not reached agreement on how
to bring change by peaceful political means due to the ruling party
sabotaging talks by refusing to revive constitution by lifting ban on twice
elected Prime Minister and by brutal treatment of lawyers, press, women and
political activists in Islamabad on September 27th
PPP also called upon the APDM to announce whether its members were leaving
the Balochistan Assembly, which would bring down the Balochistan government,
he said.
PPP deplored military insurgency in Balochistan. There is a question mark on
why APDM continues to support the military regime in Balochistan giving the
viciousness of the treatment being meted out to innocent Baloch people.
Musharraf’s
candidature challenged in SC
Makhdoom Fahim Prays for holding Presidential election in abeyance
Islamabad October
2, 2007: Pakistan Peoples Party’s Presidential candidate Makhdoom
Amin Fahim today filed constitutional petition in the Supreme Court
challenging the acceptance by the Chief Election Commissioner of nomination
papers of General Pervez Musharraf as Presidential candidate.
The petition drawn by Senators Sardar Latif Khan Khosa and Farooq Naek, and
Advocates SC Sardar Khurrram Lartif Khosa, Muhammad Ahsan Bhoon and Raja
Shafqat Abbasi Advocate Supreme Court was filed by Arshad Ali Chaudhruy
Advocate on record.
Sardar Latif Khosa and Advocate Mian Hanif Tahir President Peoples Lawyers
forum (PLF) Punjab were personally present on the occasion.
Chief Election Commissioner, General Pervez Musharraf, and the Federation
through the Secretary Law have been made respondents in the petition filed
under article 184 (3) of the Constitution.
Makhdoom Amin Fahim contended that acceptance of the nomination papers of
General Musharraf was an issue of vital fundamental public importance that
affected the 160 million people of Pakistan and prayed for the reversal of
the impugned Order of the CEC rejecting the objections against the
nomination papers of General Musharraf.
Giving grounds for the petition he said,
“That the Order of the CEC is patently illegal, contrary to the provisions
of the Constitution, against the Principles of Democracy and an affront to
the Sovereign Rights of 160 million people of Pakistan.
“That the inapplicability of Article 63 of the Constitution to the
President’s Election mainly pressed into service by the CEC in the impugned
Order is wholly untenable. The Amendment of Rule relating to Election of
President as detailed hereinafter besides being without Jurisdiction is
maliciously engineered and rather framed by the beneficiary General Pervez
Musharraf Respondent himself.
“That if Article 63 of the Constitution is made inapplicable it would have
catastrophic effects as even an insane, convict and every person in Service
yielding the highest influence would be eligible to contest rendering
farcical the highest office of The Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
“That allowing the Army Chief to contest the Presidential Election would
obviously render all other candidates at a disadvantageous position and in
the context of the incumbents own past conduct winning over voters and
getting elected would be even a blind mans guess. Neither would their exist
level playing field nor would fair, free and transparent Elections be
conceivable.
“That whereas all other Nomination Papers of serving persons have been
rejected, General Pervez Musharraf in Army Uniform alone has been allowed to
contest Election to the top slot obviously it cuts into the Principle of
Equality enshrined as a Fundamental Right under Article 25 of the
Constitution.
“That Pervez Musharraf holding the office of the Chief of Army Staff is not
qualified to contest Elections in terms of Article 43(1) read with Article
63(K) and (O) of the Constitution of The Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973;
hereinafter, to be referred as the Constitution read with Section 12(a) of
the Representation of People Act 1976.
“That General Pervez Musharraf is ineligible to contest also in view of the
Provisions of Article 44(2) of the Constitution as he first took oath of
President on 20th June, 2001, then elected through referendum on 30th April
2002, again took oath upon relinquishing office of Chief Executive on 15th
November 2002 and declared elected President in terms of Clause (8) of
Article 41 of the Constitution vide Notification dated 01-01-2004. He thus
cannot hold office for more than two consecutive terms.
“That proviso to Article 41(7) (b) having come into operation as and from
31st December 2004, any subordinate legislation cannot overrule
Constitutional disability of General Pervez Musharraf to contest the
Elections.
“That General Pervez Musharraf is also hit by the Provisions of Article
62(f) of the Constitution as he is not a sagacious, righteous, non
profligate or honest person having made solemn commitment before the nation
to shed off the uniform and on which promise got 17th Amendment passed in
the Constitution with the support of MMA and contumaciously defied, deceived
and defrauded the people of Pakistan and his benefactor MMA by retaining the
office of the Army Chief.
“That General Pervez Musharraf as Member of armed forces is bound by oath
under Article 244 of the Constitution not to engage in any political
activities whatsoever.
That General Pervez Musharraf’s approval facilitating the Amendment of Rules
for Election of President as per item 22 of the 2nd Schedule sequel to
Article 41(3) of the Constitution ousting the applicability of Article 63 to
his Elections is itself ultravires and well nigh reflective of the
subservience of ECP to the ‘General’ rendering the entire electoral process
shady and not-transparent.
“That the very Elections for the office of President by the present
assemblies are a negation of Parliament’s sovereignty as having sanctified
General Pervez Musharraf As President for 5 years, the outgoing/dying
assemblies having completed 5 years term cannot elect President for two
terms (5 + 5) and usurp the right of the incoming assemblies and thereby
deprive the people of Pakistan to elect President through their
representatives in the ensuing General Elections.
“That the successive acts of General Pervez Musharraf starting from the 12th
October 1999, dismissing CJP Mr. Justice Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui and all
Supreme Court Judges of Sindh, removing Mr. Rafiq Tarar as President of
Pakistan, tansforming Pakistan into unitary, Presidential, military form of
Government through the LFO , blunting the defection Clause (Article 63-A),
winning over PPP Parliamentarians to install PML (Q) Prime Minister with a
single vote majority, suspending the CJP Mr. Justice Iftikhar Mohammad
Chaudhry and filing reference against him on 9th March 2007, violating oath
of his office in divulging state secrets in his book “In the Line of Fire”,
accredited the murder of Nawab Akbar Bugti, ignited strife hatred and
lawlessness in the country, patronized the privatisation of national assets
at throw away prices, evidenced from the stricture of the Supreme Court of
Pakistan in Steel Mills Case, the crash in stock exchange, the sugar and
cement price hike, the wheat hoarding, and soaring Flour prices, has
subverted the Constitution and thus committed high treason and thus not
eligible for the high office of the President.
“It is therefore respectfully prayed that this Petition may kindly be
allowed, the impugned Order of the Chief Election Commissioner accepting
Nomination Papers of Syed Pervez Musharraf Respondent for the Office of The
President of Pakistan may kindly be set aside and nullified.
“It is therefore respectfully prayed that this Petition may kindly be
accepted and pending final disposal of the titled Petition the Presidential
Elections scheduled for 6th October 2007 may very graciously be held in
abeyance”.
PPP Condemns
Victimisation of Women by Taliban
London, October 1,
2007: The Pakistan Peoples Party condemned the series of brutal
crimes against women in the tribal areas and NWFP by the Taliban. Militants
beheaded a woman for alleged prostitution in Nahqi area of Mohmand Agency
last week, while two girls' schools were damaged in an explosion set by the
militants to discourage girls from going to schools.
Pakistan's volatile NWFP and tribal areas have become extremely unsafe for
women who are unable to step out of their house even for basic needs as they
become targets of the religious zealots who seek to enforce Talibanisation
in the region. This is the third killing in a matter of a month in the area.
Two more women were found beheaded early last month in the conservative town
of Bannu a day after they were abducted for alleged prostitution. A note
attached with all three corpses accused them of prostitution and threatened
those indulged in "immoral activities" with a similar fate. Earlier, on
September 29, two girls' schools in Swat were damaged in a blast targeted at
the schools by the militants. The blast comes on the heels of a string of
explosion damaging schools in the neighbouring regions. Many schools have
complained of receiving threats from Islamist organisations demanding that
their girl students wear burqas and curtail English language education
system.
"This is another indication of how the region is fast falling into the grip
of the Taliban that are making advances about imposing their brand of Islam
and are being allowed to execute their kind of justice with impunity,"
observed Sherry Rehman, Central Information Secretary Pakistan Peoples
Party.
Pointing to the repeated incidents of the torching of the music shops as
well as the forced closure of barber shops, Rehman said that religious
zealots have made life impossible for the residents of the tribal areas.
"Every minute of the day is marked with fear and uncertainty for the
population of the tribal region as the Federal and provincial governments
have completely failed in their responsibility to provide them their
constitutional right to life and security. Islam is a tolerant religion of
peace, which abhors the kind the random, personal justice being meted out in
these areas today."
"By allowing the Taliban to regroup here in the region, the regime has done
the biggest injustice to the people of Pakistan. We are now exposed to a
massive internal security risk and nobody is safe from the clutches of the
Taliban."
Rehman criticised the Musharraf regime for following an ambiguous policy in
the tribal areas . "The regime is completely tied up with its self serving
agenda to rule the country for another five years. It is unable to see that
80 percent of development funds for Fata are going into the pockets of the
local authorties and the merceneries they use. It fails to see that the
people of Fata want the same political rights as the rest of Pakistan. The
government's half hearted commitment to the cause of fighting Talibanisation
has landed even the military troops, fighting in the region, in a situation
where their morale is on a downward spiral.
Rehman demanded that the regime show total commitment to the cause of
uprooting extremist elements from the region. "The entire region is in the
grip of the extremists and unless the Musharraf regime focuses its energies
and concentration to winning this battle, the nation would continue to
suffer one blow after another."
Mohtarma Bhutto
condemns brutal attack on opposition
Islamabad
September 29, 2007: Former Prime Minister and Chairperson of the
Pakistan Peoples Party Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto has condemned the brutal
attack on Opposition members by the Musharraf regime on the occasion of
scrutiny of papers of Presidential candidates Saturday.
In a statement today she said eight years after seizing power and promising
to restore true democracy the present regime had failed to win public
support. It was relying on increasingly violent methods to stay in power,
she said.
The former Prime Minister said that the present dictatorship was responsible
for the civil war conditions in the country because it refused to allow
democracy to emerge.
Mohtarma Bhutto said the attack on Parliamentarian Chaudhry Zamarud, members
of the press, political workers and women activists was deplorable and
illegal.
She hoped the Supreme Court would take suo moto notice of the attacks and
punish the members of law enforcement that had violated the right of
citizens to peaceful protest.
Osama against my
return: BB
LAHORE:
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairwoman Benazir Bhutto said Al Qaeda chief
Osama Bin Laden didn’t want her to return to Pakistan, as he was against
women’s rule, CNN quoted her as saying on Sunday. She said Osama didn’t
believe in democracy. Bhutto said the government would provide her security
upon her arrival in Pakistan. Referring to the “assassinations” of her
father and brother, she said that her past life was very horrible but she
was hopeful about future. “I am aware of threats but I have a strong belief
in Allah,” she said. Replying to another query, Bhutto said that she was no
longer hopeful about her power-sharing talks with the government. She said
“domestic pressures” were compelling her to contact opposition parties. She
said former premier Nawaz Sharif was deported to Saudi Arabia because he was
convicted.
There was a great Prime Minister, the first Prime Minister, the father
of the present Prime Minister of India, who said, "We were too old, we
were too tired to oppose Pakistan, and Pakistan had to come into being.
But we hope that one day we will get together gain." I too hope so, not
that Pakistan will emerge as subservient to India but in the sense that
we will get together again as equal friends, in a common fraternity,
living in a common subcontinent and sharing the common effort of seeing
that poverty, ignorance and misery are wiped out. If there are any two
countries in world that are the poorest in the world, they are Pakistan
and India. Our resources might be tremendous, but the fact is that we
two are the poorest in the world. Yet in the last 24 years, we have gone
to war three times. Three times there has been conflict in the
subcontinent. I remember that Prime Minister of the Soviet Union once
telling me that even rich nations try to avoide war; poorer nations
should make a greater attempt to avoid war.