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Wednesday, October 24, 2007

[wvns] Bhutto 'blamed' for Karachi deaths

Bhutto 'blamed' for Karachi deaths
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2007
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/765093B8-1CF3-46B4-8467-0C28CC741197.htm


More than 140 people died in Thursday's attack on Bhutto's homecoming
procession in Karachi [AFP]

An opposition politician says Benazir Bhutto, the former Pakistani
prime minister, "has only herself to blame" for the attack on her
homecoming parade in Karachi.

Imran Khan, the former Pakistan cricket captain, said in an interview
on Sunday that Bhutto had made herself a target by striking a deal
with Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's president.

"The bombing of Benazir Bhutto's cavalcade as she paraded through
Karachi on Thursday night was a tragedy almost waiting to happen. You
could argue it was inevitable," Khan wrote in Britain's Sunday
Telegraph newspaper.

The criticism came as Bhutto visited some of the wounded in Karachi
hospital.

More than 140 people were killed and about 400 wounded in the suicide
attack as hundreds of thousands gathered to cheer Bhutto hours just
hours after she returned to the country.

Democracy 'undermined'

Khan said: "Everyone here knew there was going to be a huge crowd
turning up to see her return after eight years in self-imposed exile.
Everyone also knows that there has been a spate of suicide bombings in
Pakistan lately."

Bhutto has condemned the bombing as an "attack on democracy", but the
former cricketer said that the deal with Musharraf, which gave her
amnesty from corruption charges, had undermined democracy.

"The sad thing is, she didn't need to do it. Musharraf was sinking and
isolated. He was on the point of declaring a state of emergency. Just
when it looked as if he had no lifelines left, Benazir came back and
bailed him out," Khan said.

"Worse, by publicly siding with a dictator, she has deliberately
sabotaged the democratic process."

Bhutto has also been criticised by her niece, Fatima Bhutto, who
accused her of exposing the crowds to danger for her own "personal
theatre".

The newspaper columnist and poet said of her aunt: "She insisted on
this grand show, she bears a responsibility for these deaths and for
these injuries."

Public appearance

But on Sunday about 100 supporters cheered the former prime minister
as she made her first public appearance since the assassination attempt.

Surrounded by security guards carrying automatic weapons, Bhutto waved
to supporters before getting into a four-wheel-drive vehicle at the
entrance of Karachi's Jinnah hospital, where many of the badly wounded
were taken after the blasts.

Although Bhutto has pledged to contest next January's parliamentary
elections, the attack on her parade has cast doubt on her plans to
tour the country to drum up support in the coming months.

Three men were being questioned by police on Sunday. A senior
investigator told the Associated Press news agency that they were
linked to a vehicle that police believe was used by one of the
attackers, who threw a grenade at the convoy.

Police detained the them in southern Punjab province and brought them
to Karachi for questioning.

===

Bhutto: 'I know exactly who wants to kill me'
Declan Walsh in Karachi and Mark Tran
Friday October 19, 2007
Oct 19, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
http://whtt.org/index.php?news=2&id=1835


Benazir Bhutto today accused supporters of the former Pakistani
military dictator General Zia-ul-Haq for the assassination attempt
that turned her homecoming into a bloodbath.

"I know exactly who wants to kill me," she told the French magazine
Paris-Match. "They are dignitaries of General Zia's former regime who
are behind extremism and fanaticism."

Nobody has yet claimed responsibility for one of Pakistan's deadliest
bombings, which killed at least 136 people and injured 290.

In a subsequent press conference at the Karachi home of her
parents-in-law, Ms Bhutto said she had been warned on her flight to
Pakistan about a plot involving army officers and told three unnamed
people were behind it.

Ms Bhutto, wearing a black armband, said she had not wanted all her
top party leadership to travel in her truck as she "knew" there might
be an assassination attempt.

She praised those who died while protecting her as heroes, and said
she did not blame the government for the attack. However, she called
for an inquiry as to why street lights had been switched off during
her procession.

"If the street lights had been on, we would have spotted the suicide
bombers," she said. "The guards had floodlights on, but it was
difficult to scan the crowds as there were so many people".

Denouncing her would-be assassins as trying to destroy Pakistan and
saying they had damaged Islam, she added: "It is against our religion
to kill innocent people".

The Pakistani government has blamed Islamist militants for the
assassination attempt. Police are focusing on militants linked to the
Taliban and al-Qaida based in tribal regions bordering Afghanistan,
where they have stepped up attacks on Pakistani troops.

However, Ms Bhutto pointed to Pakistan's powerful intelligence
services, the ISI.

General Zia seized power in a coup against Ms Bhutto's father,
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, in 1977. The general, who died in a mysterious
plane crash in 1988, had Mr Bhutto tried on trumped-up charges and
executed.

"We have to purge elements still present in our services," Ms Bhutto
told Paris-Match. "Many went into retirement and then were taken back.
Today, they hold much power. For them I represent a danger - if I
bring back democracy to the country, they will lose influence".

The Pakistani president, General Pervez Musharraf, said he was "deeply
shocked" by the attack, and appealed for calm. He promised an
exhaustive investigation and severe punishment for those responsible.

Well before Ms Bhutto's return, Taliban commanders had made threats
against her life, fearing she would help US troops hunt for Osama bin
Laden and other fugitives. One commander, Baitullah Masood, vowed to
send suicide bombers to kill her.

"Definitely, it is the work of the militants and terrorists," Javed
Iqbal Cheema, an interior ministry spokesman said, adding that it was
too early to say which group was involved.

Manzoor Mughal, a senior police official involved in the
investigation, told Reuters that the first of last night's blasts had
been caused by a hand grenade. "The second was the suicide attack," he
said. "The attacker ran into the crowd and blew himself up."

The bombings happened shortly after midnight, more than 10 hours after
Ms Bhutto had arrived home from eight years in exile. She escaped
unhurt and was evacuated to her residence in the city.

A procession that had attracted several hundred thousand of her
supporters was abandoned in chaos.

Local television stations captured the two blasts, which occurred in
quick succession near a heavily-protected truck carrying Ms Bhutto and
her party leaders.

Television footage showed onlookers running towards the vehicle after
the first blast, only to be caught in the second explosion. Party
official Qasim Zia said Ms Bhutto had descended into the vehicle to
use the bathroom at the time of the explosion.

TV stations showed graphic images of mutilated bodies lying on a
street littered with debris, body parts and lumps of charred flesh. A
blazing police vehicle stood beside the deserted Bhutto truck, which
was emblazoned with the slogan "Long Live Bhutto".

Many of the dead were thought to be police and party security
officials who had formed a moving security cordon around the vehicle.
A local television cameraman also died.

"People were shouting for help, but there was no one to help them out.
It smelled like blood and smoke," the Associated Press photographer, B
K Bangash, who was 50 metres from the explosion, said.

The government had mounted a huge security operation. Around 20,000
security personnel lined the route and sophisticated anti-bomb jamming
devices were fitted to Ms Bhutto's vehicle.

Mobile phone signals were blocked in the area, and armed bodyguards
accompanied the truck.

Ms Bhutto returned from exile hoping to win a third term as prime
minister at general elections due to be held by mid-January. With
encouragement from the US, she has been holding power-sharing talks
with Gen Musharraf.

Pakistan's deputy information minister, Tariq Azim Khan, said Ms
Bhutto had disregarded warnings to delay her return.

"She was given friendly advice she should delay her return," he said.
"Obviously, she did not take it."

Asked what extra measures the government could possibly have taken
given the size of the crowd, he said: "There can never be 100%
foolproof security, but you can provide extra efforts. We tried to
make the maximum effort possible."

The attack will be seen as a wider assault on the political system in
Pakistan. Violent extremists have gathered force in the country this
year. In July, an eight-day siege of the extremist Red Mosque in
Islamabad in July left more than 100 people dead.

Last night's violence could endanger Ms Bhutto's power-sharing talks
with Gen Musharraf, who has threatened to impose emergency rule or
martial law if his plans to retain power are frustrated.

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