Pakistan civil war fears as ‘martyr’ Bhutto murdered

Dec 28 2007 by Liza Williams, Liverpool Daily Post

PAKISTAN was on a knife-edge last night after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

The country’s former prime minister was shot by a suicide bomber, who then blew himself up, moments after she addressed thousands of supporters in the city of Rawalpindi.

Bhutto’s murder came less than two weeks before elections in Pakistan, which many expected to return her to power and restore the nuclear-armed nation to the democratic fold.

The killing was described as “a ridiculous act” by Liverpool Islamic leader Mohammed Akbar Ali, who said it had been calculated to destroy the elections.

He added: “It is very sad. This is a ridiculous act, there is no other word to describe it.

“These people are evil. They have made up their minds to destroy any constructive move in Pakistan, they are the real enemy.

“Benazir Bhutto and other politicians in the country may have made errors, but who does not make mistakes? I feel very sad that this keeps happening in Pakistan.”

There were immediate predictions of civil war in the strife-riven country – a linchpin of George Bush’s War on Terror – despite international calls for restraint and unity.

The murder was condemned across the world, including by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who said she had been “assassinated by cowards afraid of democracy”.

Mr Brown added: “Benazir Bhutto was a woman of immense personal courage and bravery.

“Knowing as she did the threats to her life, and the previous attempt at assassination, she risked everything in her attempt to win democracy in Pakistan.

“And she has been assassinated by cowards afraid of democracy.”

US President George Bush said Ms Bhutto “gave her life” for the democratic process.

He said that, by returning to contest the elections despite the threat to her safety, she “refused to allow assassins to dictate the course of her country”.

Descriptions of Ms Bhutto as a “martyr” by supporters of her Pakistan People’s Party were echoed by Hamid Karzai, president of neighbouring Afghanistan, who met her just hours before her murder.

Although the attack was said to carry the hallmarks of Taliban-inspired Islamic extremists, much of the fury was directed against Pakistan’s president Pervez Musharraf, who was accused of failing to protect her.

Outside the hospital where Ms Bhutto died, some even chanted: “Killer, killer, Musharraf, killer.”

Supporters held angry protests in several cities, attacking police, smashing vehicles and starting fires.

Ms Bhutto’s long-term political rival, fellow former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, called her “sister” and pledged to “take the revenge on the rulers”.

Announcing three days of mourning, Mr Musharraf – the former military ruler now styled a civilian president – appealed for calm and insisted that the killing was the work of terrorists.

But doubts now hang over whether elections scheduled for January 8 will be able to take place.

While many called for the vote to be postponed, President Bush urged the people of Pakistan to “honour Benazir Bhutto’s memory by continuing with the democratic process”.

Criticised as too pro-western by her enemies, Ms Bhutto had become a vocal critic of the influence of the Taliban both across the border in Afghanistan, where more than 7,000 British troops are currently deployed, and in Pakistan itself.

Mr Karzai described Ms Bhutto – whose father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was also prime minister – as “the daughter of Pakistan and of the Muslim world”.

He added: “We in Afghanistan condemn this act of cowardice and immense brutality in the strongest possible terms.

“She sacrificed her life for the sake of Pakistan and for the sake of this region.”

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