Gboyega Akinsanmi With Agency Reports
28 December 2007
Lagos — Crisis deepened in Pakistan yesterday as the country's former prime minister and opposition leader, Ms. Benazir Bhutto, was killed after she addressed a political rally in Rawalpindi.
The demise of Bhutto, 54, leader of Pakistani People's Party (PPP), who escaped assassination in Karachi few weeks after she returned from a self-imposed exile, has put a halt to her ambition to contest the January 8 elections.
Her death, which has been condemned by world leaders including United States' President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, occurred just days after President Pervez Musharraf lifted a state of emergency imposed in some terrorist controlled areas of her border with Afghanistan because of terrorist threats and religious extremism.
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) said the armed attack claimed at least 15 lives including Bhutto, though there were conflicting reports about the number of people whose lost their lives.
A chieftain of PPP, Mr. Farah Ispahani, said: "It is too soon to confirm the number of the dead from the party's side. Private television channels are reporting 20 dead. Television channels were also quoting police sources that at least 14 people were dead. But 20 persons are dead already."
Cable Network News (CNN) reported that Bhutto was fired upon at close range before the blast, adding that she was further injured by the explosion, which was apparently caused by a suicide attacker.
Police sources said the suicide bomber, who was riding a motorcycle, blew himself up near Bhutto's vehicle.
Reports said Bhutto was rushed to Rawalpindi General Hospital less than two miles from the bombing scene where doctors pronounced her dead 35 minutes later.
According to the CNN, Bhutto was declared dead by doctors at a hospital in Rawalpindi at 6:16 p.m. after the doctors had tried to resuscitate her for 35 minutes. She had shrapnel injuries.
Her assassination further generated tension and heat in the country's political atmosphere as thousands of mourners including Nawaz Sharif, also former Pakistani prime minister and opposition leader flooded the hospital to which Bhutto was taken.
The BBC reported that President Musharraf held an emergency meeting hours after her death.
The Pakistani police warned citizens to stay home as they expected rioting to break out in city streets in reaction to the death.
Former government spokesman, Mr. Tariq Azim Khan, added that while it appeared Bhutto was shot, it was unclear if the bullet wounds to her head and neck were caused by a shooting or if it was shrapnel from the bomb.
Amid the confusion after the explosion, the site was littered with pools of blood.
Shoes and caps of party workers were lying on the asphalt, and shards of glass were strewn about the ground.
CNN reported that witnesses at the scene described the assassin as opening fire on Bhutto and her entourage, hitting her at least once in the neck and once in the chest, before blowing himself up.
At the hospital where Bhutto was taken, a large number of police began to cordon off the area as angry party workers smashed windows. Many protesters shouted "Musharraf Dog".
Bhutto was the target of a suicide attack in October in Karachi when she returned from exile to Pakistan.
That attack, caused by two bombs exploding just seconds apart, narrowly missed Bhutto but killed scores of people, including many of her party chieftains and workers.
Bhutto had been warned by the government before her return to Pakistan that she would face threats to her security.
She did not blame the government for the Karachi attack, but said extremist Islamic groups who wanted to take over the country were behind the attacks, which killed 134 people.
A graduate of Harvard and Oxford, she brought the backing of Washington and London, where she impresses with her political lineage, her considerable charm and her persona as a female Muslim leader.
But with these accomplishments, Bhutto also brought controversy and a legacy among Pakistanis as a polarising figure who during her two turbulent tenures as prime minister, first from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 1996, often acted imperiously and impulsively.
She faced deep questions about her personal probity in public office, which led to corruption cases against her in Switzerland, Spain and Britain, as well as in Pakistan.
Bhutto saw herself as the inheritor of her father's mantle, often spoke of how he encouraged her to study the lives of legendary female leaders ranging from Indira Gandhi to Joan of Arc.
Following the idea of big ambition, Bhutto called herself chairperson for life of the PPP, a seemingly odd title in an organisation based on democratic ideals and one she had acknowledged quarreling over with her mother, Nusrat Bhutto, in the early 1990s.
Meanwhile, President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua has described the assassination Bhutto "as shocking and sad".
In a statement by Special Adviser to the President on Communications, Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, Yar'Adua condemned "the wanton act of mindless political violence" which has taken the life of "a very brave woman, true democrat and great leader of her people".
"On behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria, President Yar'Adua wishes to convey his sincere condolences to the Ms. Bhutto's family, the Government of Pakistan and her millions of supporters.
"He urges them to take solace in the knowledge that she died in active pursuit of her vision of true democracy for her country, and that in death, she has become an eternal martyr to the cause she believed in with all her heart," the statement said.
President Yar'Adua also prayed that "Almighty Allah should grant her fearless soul perfect peace and rest in Paradise".
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2007 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
