allabootmatt
Senior Member
Bhutto dies in bomb attack
By Farhan Bokhari in Karachi and Jo Johnson in London
Published: December 27 2007 12:35 | Last updated: December 27 2007 19:14
Benazir Bhutto, the first elected female leader of a Muslim state, was on Thursday killed in a gun and bomb attack after a rally in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi. The death of Ms Bhutto, 54, who had served as Pakistan’s prime minister from 1988-90 and again from 1993-96, raised the spectre of instability and violence in the nuclear-armed Muslim nation.
Ms Bhutto – who returned to Pakistan in October after eight years of exile – had hoped to stage another political comeback in the parliamentary elections scheduled for January 8. The leader of the Pakistan People’s party, the former prime minister had recently been negotiating the terms of a power-sharing agreement with President Pervez Musharraf.
Mr Musharraf, a political rival of Ms Bhutto’s who overthrew then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif in 1999, quickly condemned the attack. “This cruelty is the work of those terrorists with whom we are fighting,†Mr Musharraf said in a brief televised address.
“The biggest threat to Pakistan and this nation is from these terrorists. I seek unity and support from the nation . . . we will not sit and rest until we get rid of these terrorists, root them out.â€
Mr Sharif, another former prime minister hoping to stage a return to power after a lengthy exile – and another rival of Ms Bhutto’s – called the assassination a “tragedy†and appeared to blame Mr Musharraf for the security lapse. “Benazir Bhutto was also my sister, and I will be with you to take the revenge for her death,†Mr Sharif said.
Audio interview
Benazir Bhutto
Richard Edgar speaks to Jo Johnson, South- Asia bureau chief, on his reaction to the assassination of Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto
‘I did not come this far in life to be intimidated by suicide bombers,’ Ms Bhutto wrote in the Financial Times
The shock of the assassination reverberated strongly elsewhere in the region. Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan’s president, who had met Ms Bhutto hours before her assassination, condemned her killing. “I met with her this morning [and] I found her to be a very, very brave woman, with a clear vision for her own country, for Afghanistan, and for the region, the vision of democracy and prosperity and peace,†Mr Karzai said. “I am deeply sorry, deeply pained, this brave sister of ours, brave daughter of the Muslim world is no longer with us.â€
“The subcontinent has lost an outstanding leader who worked for democracy and reconciliation in her country,†said Manmohan Singh, prime minister of India, Pakistan’s neighbour and nuclear rival. India also issued a nationwide alert to all of the country’s states to remain vigilant following the assassination.
Leaders around the world echoed Mr Karzai and Mr Singh. Gordon Brown, UK prime minister, called the day’s events “a tragic hour for Pakistan†and referred to Ms Bhutto’s attackers as “cowardsâ€.
In Crawford, Texas, President George W. Bush said the US strongly condemned “this cowardly act by murderous extremists who are trying to undermine Pakistani democracyâ€.
As the United Nations Security Council held urgent consultations on events in Pakistan, Ban Ki-moon, UN secretary-general, expressed shock and outrage at the killing of the PPP leader, describing it as an assault on stability in Pakistan and its democratic processes.
Mr Ban, who urged calm and restraint, said: “I call on all Pakistanis to work together for peace and national unity.â€
The 15-member Security Council met in closed session to prepare a joint statement on the assassination. A top Russian diplomat said the killing of Ms Bhutto could trigger a wave of terror in Pakistan. “An act of terror is a bad sign,†deputy foreign minister Alexander Losyukov, Russia’s most senior Asia diplomat, told Itar-Tass news agency. “We hereby offer our condolences. This will for certain trigger a wave of terrorism.â€
Police said a suicide bomber fired shots at Ms Bhutto as she was leaving the rally venue in a park before blowing himself up. “The man first fired at Bhutto’s vehicle. She ducked and then he blew himself up,†police officer Mohammad Shahid said.
Officials had initially reported that Ms Bhutto was safe after the attack – the latest attempt on her life since her return from exile. A suicide bomber killed almost 150 people in an attack on Ms Bhutto on October 18 as she paraded through the southern city of Karachi after returning home from self-imposed exile.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
I'm not a Pakistan expert, and it always seemed to me that Bhutto was a much more complicated figure than her supporters made her out to be, but this news nonetheless strikes me as, uh, really bad. Pakistan is not a place I'm eager to see get out of control, or more out of control than it already is, maybe. Seems like things might be about to get quite nasty, which makes me glad that reading-between-the-lines of some news stories a few weeks ago suggested that American troops have Pakistan's nuclear warheads under lock and key.
By Farhan Bokhari in Karachi and Jo Johnson in London
Published: December 27 2007 12:35 | Last updated: December 27 2007 19:14
Benazir Bhutto, the first elected female leader of a Muslim state, was on Thursday killed in a gun and bomb attack after a rally in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi. The death of Ms Bhutto, 54, who had served as Pakistan’s prime minister from 1988-90 and again from 1993-96, raised the spectre of instability and violence in the nuclear-armed Muslim nation.
Ms Bhutto – who returned to Pakistan in October after eight years of exile – had hoped to stage another political comeback in the parliamentary elections scheduled for January 8. The leader of the Pakistan People’s party, the former prime minister had recently been negotiating the terms of a power-sharing agreement with President Pervez Musharraf.
Mr Musharraf, a political rival of Ms Bhutto’s who overthrew then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif in 1999, quickly condemned the attack. “This cruelty is the work of those terrorists with whom we are fighting,†Mr Musharraf said in a brief televised address.
“The biggest threat to Pakistan and this nation is from these terrorists. I seek unity and support from the nation . . . we will not sit and rest until we get rid of these terrorists, root them out.â€
Mr Sharif, another former prime minister hoping to stage a return to power after a lengthy exile – and another rival of Ms Bhutto’s – called the assassination a “tragedy†and appeared to blame Mr Musharraf for the security lapse. “Benazir Bhutto was also my sister, and I will be with you to take the revenge for her death,†Mr Sharif said.
Audio interview
Benazir Bhutto
Richard Edgar speaks to Jo Johnson, South- Asia bureau chief, on his reaction to the assassination of Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto
‘I did not come this far in life to be intimidated by suicide bombers,’ Ms Bhutto wrote in the Financial Times
The shock of the assassination reverberated strongly elsewhere in the region. Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan’s president, who had met Ms Bhutto hours before her assassination, condemned her killing. “I met with her this morning [and] I found her to be a very, very brave woman, with a clear vision for her own country, for Afghanistan, and for the region, the vision of democracy and prosperity and peace,†Mr Karzai said. “I am deeply sorry, deeply pained, this brave sister of ours, brave daughter of the Muslim world is no longer with us.â€
“The subcontinent has lost an outstanding leader who worked for democracy and reconciliation in her country,†said Manmohan Singh, prime minister of India, Pakistan’s neighbour and nuclear rival. India also issued a nationwide alert to all of the country’s states to remain vigilant following the assassination.
Leaders around the world echoed Mr Karzai and Mr Singh. Gordon Brown, UK prime minister, called the day’s events “a tragic hour for Pakistan†and referred to Ms Bhutto’s attackers as “cowardsâ€.
In Crawford, Texas, President George W. Bush said the US strongly condemned “this cowardly act by murderous extremists who are trying to undermine Pakistani democracyâ€.
As the United Nations Security Council held urgent consultations on events in Pakistan, Ban Ki-moon, UN secretary-general, expressed shock and outrage at the killing of the PPP leader, describing it as an assault on stability in Pakistan and its democratic processes.
Mr Ban, who urged calm and restraint, said: “I call on all Pakistanis to work together for peace and national unity.â€
The 15-member Security Council met in closed session to prepare a joint statement on the assassination. A top Russian diplomat said the killing of Ms Bhutto could trigger a wave of terror in Pakistan. “An act of terror is a bad sign,†deputy foreign minister Alexander Losyukov, Russia’s most senior Asia diplomat, told Itar-Tass news agency. “We hereby offer our condolences. This will for certain trigger a wave of terrorism.â€
Police said a suicide bomber fired shots at Ms Bhutto as she was leaving the rally venue in a park before blowing himself up. “The man first fired at Bhutto’s vehicle. She ducked and then he blew himself up,†police officer Mohammad Shahid said.
Officials had initially reported that Ms Bhutto was safe after the attack – the latest attempt on her life since her return from exile. A suicide bomber killed almost 150 people in an attack on Ms Bhutto on October 18 as she paraded through the southern city of Karachi after returning home from self-imposed exile.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
I'm not a Pakistan expert, and it always seemed to me that Bhutto was a much more complicated figure than her supporters made her out to be, but this news nonetheless strikes me as, uh, really bad. Pakistan is not a place I'm eager to see get out of control, or more out of control than it already is, maybe. Seems like things might be about to get quite nasty, which makes me glad that reading-between-the-lines of some news stories a few weeks ago suggested that American troops have Pakistan's nuclear warheads under lock and key.