Martyrdom for a Modern Machiavellian
47 minutes ago
By Sadaqat Jan And Zarar Khan, The Associated Press
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan - Moments after a euphoric crowd stretched its arms toward Benazir Bhutto, moments after the charismatic former prime minister made herself vulnerable by saluting her followers through a car's sunroof, the street was awash with blood.
And in that chaotic instant, a dangerous world became even more dangerous.
Efforts to restore democracy in Pakistan suffered a crushing blow with Thursday's assassination of the 54-year-old Bhutto after a rally. A country that has nuclear weapons was even more destabilized, and hopes among western countries that Pakistan would be a bulwark against terrorism were shaken.
On whose behalf did the suicidal assassin kill Bhutto, 20 others and himself? No one knew for certain. But clearly, this was a victory for extremists.
President Pervez Musharraf blamed terrorists. "Today, after this tragic incident, I want to express my firm resolve ... we will not rest until we eliminate these terrorists and root them out," he told a national television audience.
Musharraf debated whether to postpone Jan. 8 elections - a bitter irony, because Bhutto had returned from exile to run in that election against Musharraf, leader of a military government since a 1999 coup. Another opposition politician, Nawaz Sharif, announced he would boycott any vote in the wake of Bhutto's murder.
Across Pakistan, the shock of Thursday's bloodshed turned into violence as Bhutto's enraged supporters burned vehicles and attacked shops. At least nine people died in the mayhem that followed. As news of her death spread, supporters gathered at the hospital where she had been taken, smashed glass doors, stoned cars.
Rightly or wrongly, they knew whom to blame: they chanted, "Killer, Killer, Musharraf."
Hours before, addressing more than 5,000 supporters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, Bhutto scoffed at reports that foreign troops would be sent here to help fight resurgent militants linked to the Taliban and al-Qaida in the area bordering Afghanistan.
"Why should foreign troops come in? We can take care of this, I can take care of this, you can take care of this," she said.
Then, as Bhutto left the rally in a white sports utility vehicle, the attacker struck.
Sardar Qamar Hayyat, an official from Bhutto's party, was about 10 metres away. A smiling Bhutto stuck her head out of the sunroof and responded to the chants of her supporters, he said.
"Then I saw a thin, young man jumping toward her vehicle from the back and opening fire. Moments later, I saw her speeding vehicle going away. That was the time when I heard a blast and fell down," Hayyat said.
The blast was a suicide bomb the young man was apparently carrying. The carnage was immediate.
Bhutto was rushed into emergency surgery. A doctor on the surgical team said a bullet in the back of her neck damaged her spinal cord before exiting from the side of her head. Another bullet pierced the back of her shoulder and came out through her chest, he said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. She was given an open heart massage, but the spinal cord damage was too great, he said.
"At 6:16 p.m. she expired," said Wasif Ali Khan, a member of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party who was at Rawalpindi General Hospital.
Bhutto's supporters questioned why the government had not provided her better security in the wake of death threats and previous attempts on her life - including a bombing that killed more than 140 people when she returned from exile in October.
On Thursday, hundreds of riot police manned security checkpoints at the park for Bhutto's first public meeting in the city since her return. In November, Musharraf forced her to cancel a planned rally here, citing security fears. In recent weeks, suicide bombers have repeatedly targeted security forces in Rawalpindi, a city near the capital where Musharraf stays and the Pakistan army has its headquarters.
Makhdoom Amin Fahim, chairman of Bhutto's party, called for a thorough investigation. "The Bhutto family and the party should know who is behind the attack," he said.
The government announced three days of mourning for Bhutto, including the closing of schools, commercial centres and banks.
The killing could strengthen the increasingly unpopular Musharraf by eliminating a strong rival, or weaken him by sparking uncontrollable riots across the country.
The UN Security Council vigorously denounced the killing and urged "all Pakistanis to exercise restraint and maintain stability in the country."
Sharif, another former prime minister and leader of a rival opposition party, demanded Musharraf resign immediately. "Musharraf is the cause of all the problems," he said. "The federation of Pakistan cannot remain intact in the presence of President Musharraf."
In the United States, President George W. Bush condemned the attack "by murderous extremists who are trying to undermine Pakistan's democracy." Bush spoke briefly by phone with Musharraf; the Bush administration had banked on a plan to stabilize Pakistan with a rapprochement between Bhutto and Musharraf.
In Canada, Prime Minister Stephen Harper called the assassination a threat to democracy. He urged Musharraf to let the Jan. 8 election go ahead.
"This cannot be allowed to permit any delay in the return of Pakistan to full democracy," Harper said in Calgary, adding democracy is "something the people of Pakistan have been waiting for, for far too long."
Harper also expressed concern about increased instability in the region. Canadian troops are deployed in neighbouring Afghanistan as part of a NATO force supporting the Afghan government.
Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier condemned "in the strongest terms this attack ... Today's violence is especially heinous in view of the upcoming elections on Jan. 8, 2008. The anti-democratic intent of the perpetrators could not be more obvious,"
No one claimed responsibility for the assassination.
But suspicion was likely to fall on Islamic militants linked to al-Qaida and the Taliban, who hated Bhutto for her close ties to the Americans and support for the war on terrorism. A local Taliban leader reportedly threatened to greet Bhutto's return to the country from exile in October with suicide bombings.
Hours after she was rushed to surgery, Bhutto's body was carried out of the hospital in a plain wooden coffin by a crowd of supporters. Her body was expected to be transferred to an air base and brought to her family hometown of Larkana.
Next to Musharraf, Bhutto was the best known political figure in the country. She had served two terms as prime minister between 1988 and 1996. She was respected in the West for her liberal outlook and determination to combat the spread of Islamic extremism, a theme she returned to often in her campaign speeches.
Her death will leave a void at the top of her Pakistan People's party, the largest political group in the country.
As news of her death spread, shop owners quickly closed their businesses as riots broke out in Karachi. Fayyaz Leghri, a local police official, said gunmen shot and wounded two police officers.
One man was killed in a shootout between police and protesters in Tando Allahyar, a town 190 kilometres north of Karachi, said Mayor Kanwar Naveed. Four others were killed in Karachi, two were killed elsewhere in the southern Sindh province and two others in Lahore, police said.
In the town of Tando Jam, protesters forced passengers to get out of a train and then set it on fire.
Violence also broke out in Lahore, Multan, Peshawar and many other parts of Pakistan, where Bhutto's supporters burned banks, state-run grocery stores and private shops. Some set fire to election offices for the ruling party, according to Pakistani media.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who met with Bhutto just hours before her death, called her a brave woman with a clear vision "for her own country, for Afghanistan and for the region - a vision of democracy and prosperity and peace."
Bhutto had returned to Pakistan from an eight-year exile on Oct. 18. Her homecoming parade in Karachi was also targeted by a suicide attacker, killing more than 140 people. On that occasion she narrowly escaped injury.
Martyrdom for a Modern Machiavellian
