- Share This Post
- submit
- 4
-
Sparkle (0)
Benazir Bhutto, twice elected Prime Minister of Pakistan, was killed today in a combined shooting and suicide bomb attack in the Liaquat National Bagh in Rawalpindi. Bhutto was shot in the neck and chest by an assassin who also detonated the suicide bomb as she was leaving the rally of the Pakistan People's Party, of which Bhutto was a leader.
From Times Online:
"Ms Bhutto was waving from the sunroof of her bullet-proof Landcruiser when the assassin struck, first firing shots and then blowing himself up. A doctor on the team that attended to Ms. Bhutto said that she had taken a bullet in the back of the neck that 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, but the main cause of death was damage to her spinal cord, he said."
At least 20 people were killed in the blast which took place mere moments after Bhutto gave her political speech to thousands of her supporters. Bhutto was campaigning for the parliamentary elections that were to take place January 8. She had hoped to become Prime Minister once again. Plans for the upcoming general elections are now uncertain.
This was the second attempt on Bhutto's life since she returned to Pakistan in October. While en route to a rally in Karachi on October 18, two explosions occurred shortly after Bhutto had landed and left Jinnah International Airport. She was not injured in the explosions which were also declared as suicide-bomb attacks, but 136 people were killed and at least 450 were injured.
From NPR:
"The death of the charismatic former prime minister threw the campaign for the Jan. 8 parliamentary elections into chaos and created fears of mass protests and violence across the nuclear-armed nation, an important U.S. ally in the war on terrorism."
"Benazir Bhutto was no stranger to the violence that took her life. It defined her family history. [She was] the fourth member of her family to be cut down. Her father, Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was executed after being overthrown by General Mohammad Zia ul-Haq in a 1977 military coup. Her two brothers were murdered, one in France and another in a Karachi shooting. Bhutto's moderate view of Islam and contacts with the Bush administration made her a target for extremists in the world's largest Muslim nation after Indonesia.
In her autobiography, Daughter of the East, Bhutto wrote, "I know that I am a symbol of what the so-called jihadists, Taliban and al-Qaeda, most fear. I am a female political leader fighting to bring modernity, communication, education and technology to Pakistan.''
Bhutto loved Pakistan and wanted Democracy to thrive in her country. She was willing to risk her life for the cause that was most important to her. She knew she was a threat to extremists because of her desire to restore political power to the country of Pakistan. The poor and women especially, loved Bhutto because she brought them a sense of hope that many couldn't find elsewhere.
In a televised statement, President Bush condemned Bhutto's murder:
"The United States strongly condemns this cowardly act by murderous extremists who are trying to undermine Pakistan's democracy. Those who committed this crime must be brought to justice."
White House spokesman Scott Stanzel later appeared for a press conference to answer questions from the media. He said that President Bush planned to talk with President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, and that it was too early to draw any conclusions as to who was responsible for Ms. Bhutto's assassination and whether the Pakistani government would launch an investigation into her murder.
When asked if he could comment about the implications for U.S. policy in Pakistan because of what happened this morning, Stanzel replied:
"I think it's important to take a step back and consider what we're facing here. This is the nature of the enemy we face. We face terrorists who will stop at nothing. They will take innocent life to stop the march of democracy. And we have seen that in other places around the world -- suicide bombers who kill wantonly. And the President decided to take the fight to the enemy in 2001 to confront this type of danger, because terrorist thugs want to stop the march of democracy, they want to stop the advancement of liberty, and they will stop at nothing to
