October 18th 2007
Special Report
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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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.
