Powered by Max Banner Ads
Musharraf Asks Britain For Help In Bhutto Investigation
President Pervez Musharraf said Wednesday he had asked for British help to investigate the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, as authorities pushed back crucial elections to Feb. 18, citing the unrest caused by her killing.
In a nationally televised address, Musharraf said the death of the two-time prime minister was a great tragedy for Pakistan. He blamed “terrorists” for Bhutto’s slaying.
“We decided to request a team from Scotland Yard to come,” Musharraf said in a nationally televised address. He added that he sent the request to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, “and he accepted the request.”
This was a very smart move by Musharraf and will go a long way to rebuilding confidence in the Pakistani government and his administration.
If he would have asked the U.S. for help, it would have looked like he was bowing to American pressure which would have further aggravated his situation politically.
Scotland Yard is among the best law enforcement agencies in the world, and will certainly conduct a thorough investigation.
-Chris Jones
Pakistani Govt Reverses Itself On Bhutto’s Death
In a dramatic U-turn, Pakistan government has “apologized” for claiming that former premier Benazir Bhutto died of a skull fracture after hitting the sunroof of her car during a suicide attack.
Caretaker Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz Khan has asked the media and people to “forgive and ignore” comments made by his ministry’s spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema which were slammed by her Pakistan People’s Party as “lies” and led to an uproar at home and abroad.
This sudden U-turn is likely a direct result of various privately shot movies and pictures that actually recorded the assassination second by second.
The Hot Joints posted a dramatic video yesterday confirming once and for all that Bhutto was indeed shot. The footage actually shows the gun being fired and the bullets striking the former prime minister seconds before a suicide bomber blew himself up.
-Chris Jones
Video Conclusively Shows Bhutto Was Shot
It looks like we have a classic cover up on our hands with the Pakistani government. This video was shot from a different angle and it absolutely shows Benazir Bhutto being shot seconds before the suicide bomber detonated himself.
The most likely reason for the cover-up is that Musharraf is embarrassed at what little control he apparently has over security in Pakistan. The fact that both a man with a gun and a man with a bomb strapped to him were able to get within feet of Bhutto and assassinate her is unthinkable.
-Chris Jones
Transcript of Al-Qaeda Intercept Discussing Bhutto Assassination
The Pakistani authorities claim they have proof that Al-Qaeda was responsible for the Bhutto assassination. The alleged proof is a telephone conversation between two Al-Qaeda operatives that was intercepted by Pakistani intelligence. Here is the official transcript of that phone intercept released earlier today.
The conversation is between militant leader Baitullah Mehsud, who is referred to as Emir Sahib, and another man identified as a Maulvi Sahib, or Mr. Cleric.
Maulvi Sahib: Peace be on you.
Mehsud: Peace be on you, too.
Maulvi Sahib: How are you Emir Sahib?
Mehsud: Fine.
Maulvi Sahib: Congratulations. I arrived now tonight.
Mehsud: Congratulations to you, too.
Maulvi Sahib: They were our men there.
Mehsud: Who were they?
Maulvi Sahib : There were Saeed, the second was Badarwala Bilal and Ikramullah was also there.
Mehsud: The three did it?
Maulvi Sahib: Ikramullah and Bilal did it.
Mehsud: Then congratulations to you again.
Maulvi: Where are you? I want to meet with you?
Mehsud: I am in Makin. Come I am at Anwar Shah’s home.
Maulvi Sahib: OK I will come.
Mehsud: Do not inform their family presently.
Maulvi Sahib: Right.
Mehsud: It was a spectacular job. They were very brave boys who killed her.
Maulvi Sahib: Praise be to God. I will give you more details when I come.
Mehsud: I will wait for you. Congratulation once again.
Maulvi Sahib: Congratulations to you as well.
Mehsud: Any service?
Mauvliv: Thank you very much?
Mehsud: Peace be on you.
Maulvi: Same to you.
-Chris Jones
Report: Bhutto Died From Head Injury
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, whose funeral was held today, died from injuries she suffered when hitting her vehicle’s sunroof according to one report.
The Interior Minister spokesman said a post mortem found no bullets or shrapnel in her body, but an autopsy was not performed. Pakistani officials claim that an investigation is under way to determine why an autopsy wasn’t performed.
Regardless of what exactly caused her to die, the Interior Minister insisted that Al Qaeda was responsible for the attack. He claims that intelligence officials intercepted a phone call about a plot to kill the former Prime Minister.
“We have intelligence intercepts indicating that al Qaeda leader Baitullah Mehsud is behind her assassination,” ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema told a news conference.”
Mehsud is one of Pakistan’s most wanted militant leaders and is based in the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border.
Cheema said authorities had recorded an intercept on Friday morning in which Mehsud had congratulated his people for carrying out the attack.
He also said Mehsud was behind a suicide bomb attack on Bhutto in Karachi that killed about 140 people hours after she arrived back in the country from eight years of exile on October 18 this year.
Benazir Bhutto Laid To Rest
Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was buried Friday in her ancestral hometown, one day after her assassination in Rawalpindi.
She was buried in Naudero, Sindhi province, 350 miles from the southern city of Karachi. Her husband and three children arrived Friday to prepare for the ceremony, and thousands of mourners joined the funeral procession.
Hundreds of thousands of mourners lined the streets of Naudero, many weeping and beating their heads as they walked behind the white ambulance that carried her flag-draped coffin the three mile journey from her family home to the magnificent, three-domed mausoleum at Garhi Khuda Baksh where her father, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, another charismatic political leader to die a violent death, already lies buried.
A huge roar went up as the coffin, covered in the red, black and green flag of her Pakistan People’s Party, arrived at the gates of the white mausoleum. Inside, a mullah led funeral prayers, while the crowds raised their hands in front of their faces and chanted “Allahu Akhbar” (God is Great) three times.
Cities across Pakistan came to a standstill, with schools, public offices and private businesses shut and public transport halted, as the country began three days of official mourning for the opposition leader.
The Bhutto Assassination
Understandably, many are quick to believe that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was directly responsible for today’s murder of Benazir Bhutto.
It is highly unlikely that Musharraf was responsible, because while he obviously had concerns about her beating him in next month’s elections, her murder is about the worst thing that could happen to him politically.
Bhutto was the leader of Pakistan’s largest political party, and her murder threatens to destabilize the entire country and possibly lead to Musharraf’s overthrow.
The Pakistani intelligence service known as the ISI was most likely responsible for the killing. The ISI operates like a state within a state inside Pakistan, frequently engaging in operations without the knowledge or consent of the Pakistani government itself.
They’re said to be an invisible force in Pakistani politics and countless incidents around the world, it is one of the most significant and secretive intelligence agencies that exist today.
The ISI is also known to be riddled with individuals who are sympathetic to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda and in some cases are actual members. It’s entirely possible that the ISI allowed Bhutto to be killed as a way to create the unrest necessary for Musharraf to be overthrown.
The last thing in the world Musharraf wanted to do was create anymore instability in Pakistan or do anything to cast further doubt on the legitimacy of next month’s elections.
Obviously, it would have been in Musharraf’s interest to do whatever was necessary to undermine Bhutto politically, but to have her murdered in front of the world is a disaster both for him and for Pakistan.
President Bush warned Musharraf after the first attempt on Bhutto’s life that he had better make sure she gets adequate protection if he wants to keep seeing U.S. aide money. That is yet another reason it simply wasn’t in Musharraf’s interest to see this happen.
Another possible outcome of Bhutto’s assassination is that it could potentially spark a push back against the radical Islamic movement that has gained considerable strength in recent years.
Benazir Bhutto was certainly a brave woman, who refused to be intimidated by radical Islamic thugs in her country. We will never know if she would have been elected next month, or what it would have meant for Pakistan if she had.
What we do know is that the threat of radical Islam is very real. It has nothing to do with God, but has everything to do with spreading death and destruction to everything it touches.
-Chris Jones
Benazir Bhutto Killed In Suicide Attack
Benazir Bhutto, the Pakistani opposition leader and former Prime Minister, has been killed in a suicide bombing on her political rally today.
Ms Bhutto had been addressing crowds at the garrison city of Rawalpindi, ahead of Pakistan’s general election next month, when witnesses say she was shot through the neck and chest then the bomber detonated his explosives, killing around 20 people.
Ms. 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 thirty-five minutes.
As news of her death filtered out, Ms Bhutto’s supporters at the hospital began chanting “Dog, Musharraf, dog,” referring to Pakistan’s President, Pervez Musharraf.
Some of them smashed the glass door at the main entrance of the emergency unit, others burst into tears.
Russia and the United States both swiftly issued condemnations of the atrocity, which was being blamed on Islamic militants.
A Russian foreign ministry spokesman predicted that it would bring fresh instability to the region, and trigger a fresh round of terrorist attacks.
-Chris Jones
108 Die in Blasts Near Bhutto in Karachi (Updated)
Two bombs exploded Thursday night near a truck carrying former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on her triumphant return to Pakistan after eight years in exile, killing at least 108 people 126 people and wounding 150, an official said. Party workers and police said Bhutto was unhurt.
An initial small explosion was followed by a huge blast just feet from the front of the truck carrying Bhutto during a procession through Karachi. The blast shattered windows in her vehicle and set a police escort vehicle on fire.
Those traveling atop the truck with Bhutto climbed down, with one man jumping off while others climbed down. Police Chief Azhar Farooqi told Dawn News that Bhutto was rushed from the area under contingency plans.
-Chris Jones
Benazir Bhutto’s Return Rocked By Bombings
Dozens of people are feared dead in two large explosions near to where former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was being welcomed home.
Bhutto’s truck had just passed when the blasts happened in Karachi, just hours after she ended her eight-year exile.
Hundreds of thousands of people had lined the route to see her. Militants linked to al Qaeda, angered by her support for the US war on terrorism, had threatened to assassinate her.
Benazir Bhutto Back in Pakistan
Benazir Bhutto, the Pakistani opposition leader and former prime minister, arrived in Pakistan this afternoon, ending her eight-year exile in a return that is expected to reconfigure the country’s already unsettled political landscape.
On the flight from Dubai, the emirate where she had lived for much of the last decade in self-imposed exile, Ms. Bhutto was accompanied by chanting supporters, and she moved through the plane talking to reporters and to admirers. When asked how she felt, she said, “Very excited, very happy, very proud, a tremendous sense of responsibility.”
She added: “I think the time has come for democracy. If we want to save Pakistan. we have to have democracy.”
Her return is expected to have a significant impact on Pakistan’s politics. Not least, it is certain to invigorate the opposition to Pakistan’s military leader, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who was re-elected president by national and provincial assemblies on Oct. 6, but still faces constitutional challenges to his eligibility.
Posts
