Recently, Bruce Riedel, a Pakistan analyst speculated on an interview with Newsweek that Bhutto’s assassination was orchestrated by Al-Qaeda. He had explained that Al-Qaeda has been trying to kill Ms. Bhutto for decades.
Recently after her death, Pakistan’s interior minister blames her death on both radical Islamist groups.
“We have the evidence that Al-Qaeda and Taliban were behind the suicide attack on Benazir Bhutto,” explains Hamid Nawaz, Pakistan’s interior minister. The spokesman for the Interior Ministry, Javed Iqbal Cheema said that the government recorded an intelligence intercept on Friday.
The intercept had Baitullah Mehsud “congratulating” his people for carrying out Bhutto’s assassination. Cheema also explained that Mehsud was also behind the attack on Bhutto’s life on October 18 when she returned to Pakistan after the self-imposed eight year exile.
Mehsud is known as a radical cleric who is pro-Taliban. In a newspaper interview, Muhsud said he would welcome Bhutto with suicide bombings. But he would later deny the statement to local reporters.
The assassination has plunged the country into chaos in less than two weeks. Many feel that her assassination could possibly be a fatal blow for any hopes of setting up a legit democratic government. She was considered to be the most powerful political opponent to President Pervez Musharraf.
Violence erupted as angry supporters of Bhutto ran through the streets after her death. They let cars and stores on fire in a wave of violence that had claimed the lives of at least twenty-three people. Twenty other people were killed during Bhutto’s assassination.
“She was not just the leader of the PPP, she was a leader of the whole country. I don’t know what will happen to the country now,” according Nazakat Soomro.
The PM of Pakistan, Mohammedmian Soomro said that the government has no plan to postpone the elections on January 8. It is possible that President Musharraf will give the order to temporarily postpone the elections to allow the PPP to find a replacement for Ms. Bhutto.
“Right now the elections stand where they were,” Mr. Soomro said. He added: “We will consult all the political parties to take any decision about it.”
The violence was magnified on Friday. Three banks in Karachi were looted. In Multan, seven banks and a gas station were ransacked with police responding with teargas. In Hyderabad, police opened fire on the protesters wounding five of them.
“We opened fire when protesters got more violent and we failed to disperse them. Five of them have received bullet wounds,” said Abdul Qadir Summo, a police officer.
Paramilitary rangers were granted authority to use live fire to neutralize rioters according to Major Asad Ali, the spokesman for the rangers.
Railway stations were burned with one track leading to India being uprooted. The main pro-Musharraf party office was ransacked by a few thousand Bhutto supporters.
But the main question is: who killed Ms. Bhutto? While Musharraf blames the assassination on the Islamic militants, there will be many pointing to him.
As a result, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has announced his party will boycott the elections. While the elections are a step to restore democracy, it would also restore credibility to Musharraf’s government.
It could possibly mean a political death for President Musharraf with Sharif’s party boycotting the elections and the PPP without a leader.
Asides from announcing the boycott, Nawaz Sharif demanded that Musharraf resign from office citing him as the root of all the problems.
Leave Your Comments