Benazir Bhutto killed in attack
Pakistani former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has been assassinated in a suicide attack.
Ms Bhutto – the first woman PM in an Islamic state – was leaving an election rally in Rawalpindi when a gunman shot her in the neck and set off a bomb.
At least 20 other people died in the attack and several more were injured.
President Pervez Musharraf has urged people to remain calm but angry protests have gripped some cities, with at least 11 deaths reported.
Security forces have been placed on a state of “red alert” nationwide.
There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attack. Analysts believe Islamist militants to be the most likely group behind it.
Map: Scene of the assassination
Ms Bhutto, leader of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), had served as prime minister from 1988-1990 and 1993-1996, and had been campaigning ahead of elections due on 8 January.
It was the second suicide attack against her in recent months and came amid a wave of bombings targeting security and government officials.
Nawaz Sharif, also a former prime minister and a political rival, announced his Muslim League party would boycott the elections.
He called on President Musharraf to resign, saying free and fair elections were not possible under his rule.
The United Nations Security Council held an emergency session and later said it “unanimously condemned” the assassination.
Unfortunately, this mishap has taken place in a such town, Rawalpindi, which is considered as one of most secured town or one of most sensitive towns due to Pakistan’s national security. This is town is supposed to be loaded with thousands of agents from ISI and other secret services. Because this is where the head quarters of Pakistan Armed Forces is situated. Because of the existence of very sensitive Rawal Dam and Military Head Quarters, Rawalpindi has always been considered as a top priority to national security structure of Pakistan. This is too difficult for a Pakistani extremist to ravage the security barrier of Rawalpindi and go for a self-plotted bombing and shooting mission, specially over a figure like Benazir Bhutto, member of the most popular & influential political dynasty in Pakistan. Without the assistance of authority, it’s just impossible. Because Pakistani extremists are always rated top of the Crazy list and last at the IQ list. You know Shakespeare wrote that when there is an assassination inside a palace, its must be someone inside the palace who plotted the whole thing. From the point of view of Pakistan’s military, Rawalpindi can be profoundly compared with a palace and Benazir’s assassination is never unlike Shakespeare’s theory of assassination inside palace.
The Bhutto family was never popular between Pakistani military Generals, none of them felt comfortable when any of Bhuttos were in power or with their issues. None of members of this family died normally, Zulfi was hanged by Gen. Zia-ul-Huq in 1979 ignoring requests & calls of most of world leaders; Zulfi’s youngest son Shahnawaz was found dead in his apartment at Cannes, France in 1985, was allegedly poisoned by ISI agents or its mercinaries; eldest son Murtaza was killed by police near Islamabad in 1996 and the shooter later committed suicide (elimination of the killer, a most common theory of assassination plots, like Lee Harvey Oswald died after Kennedy’s assassination); and on this very day, only living member of Zulfi’s immediate descending cycle, Benazir got assassinated.
Benazir has been set into a such plot today, which never would allow her to escape the death. She was left alone, none of government’s security agent were there to protect her, may be there were some, but not to protect her rather to set her to be killed. There have already been attempts on her killing 148 people in October, and then she was supposed to be topped in the security list of the government. But she was not. To kill a rat, or to set that among dozens of cats, both are just same. Benazir was just set to be killed. Benazir has been killed, but why she got killed? Who benefited? A most common aftermath after all assassination plots is raising confusions & debates about the killer, the shooter or the attacker. Especially when the authority plots the thing, it’s become easier to suppress the raising of questions like “how” & “why”. As long debates go on about “who” instead of emphasizing “how” & “why”, the plot as well plotters remain safe.
Two very important things to be noted are, I don’t know if anybody has noticed already or not, the Pakistani regime has already been busy in damaging evidences. The bullet proof TOYOTA Hilux has already been taken under custody of the government. Streets of Rawalpindi, in front of the park, have been swept out by the municipality. This has been a basic violence of crime scene management code, where lots of remains & evidences of the assassination have been hampered and vanished. There has been no decency & transparency in the autopsy of Benazir. She was taken to hospital and expired at 6:16PM, where as her body was cleared by the hospital at 9:30, how can it be possible? Is it logical to be done with a complete investigatory autopsy of such a person like Benazir within hours and clarify the body overnight, where confusion in a basic issue arose whether she was shot to death or killed by a bomb or heart attack after the shock? None of Chief of Police, Chief of SSG (Special Services Group), Chief of ISPR (Inter Services Public Relations) was available after the assassination. An officer of ISPR told that they have been unavailable because of the meeting with the President. But very clear sources say that the meeting which was presided by Musharraf himself started after 7PM, then what they were doing before that. The truth is that all of this men were ordered to stay away of the reach of the media.
I don’t know what is the future of all of these things happened in Pakistan. Its Generals cannot consider that their hunt over the Bhutto family is over, because a harder & tighter nut to crack is the next of this dynasty, Fatima Bhutto. She is hopefully one players in political future of Pakistan. If she gets close to the power, she will be killed too like her paternal aunt. Then why to wait and why to be late? They can do their job by this time, Fatima lives alone with her mother at their residence in Karachi, it will be easier to work on her. But one thing, from what people never want to get a shred of lesson, that is history. It is a big book, many people to read, but nobody to learn. At least those who drives to the throne, never learn from it. Zulfi was a political figure of 70s, but craze over his popularity, over his dynasty still remains. To the death, Benazir was Pakistan’s most popular political leader. They killed Zulfi one day, but did it work to block his daughter to go through hearts of people? No, it didn’t. Today they killed Benazir, but they never know that it will never work to block her men to come forward. Fatima Bhutto, or any of Benazir’s children, are going to take over, take the risk of life.
Click to read a short biography of the brave leader of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto, rest in peace
