filed under Politics
“Dog, Musharraf, Dog!” Cry Bhutto Mourners
1:08PM ON
12/27/2007
BY
Leslie Friedman
The twice elected former Prime Minister, BENAZIR BHUTTO, was shot dead today at a political rally for the Pakistan People’s Party in Rawalpindi near the capital Islamabad. Reports say Bhutto was shot in the chest and the neck by a lone gunman who then committed suicide by igniting a bomb. It is reported that at least 20 people were murdered as a result. Bhutto died at 6:16 pm.
Bhutto’s fate was sealed when she returned to Pakistan October 18th of this year. Right before returning, Bhutto was interviewed with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. When asked about her decision to move back to Pakistan from her self-inflicted exile in Dubai, Bhutto was hopeful about her country’s return to a peaceful democracy and said, “…I still believe that if we can get an agreement for a smooth transfer of power and we can get a balance of power between the presidency and the parliament, we’d be able to come up with a situation where we can undermine terrorism and address the real needs of the people, which I believe are now being neglected.” [Late Edition, Aug. 5, 2007]. For this reason Bhutto returned to Pakistan, but the opposition to her presence was felt from the moment she landed.
During a return processional en route to Karachi later on October 18th, Bhutto’s brigade was attacked by two suicide bombers killing 136 people and injuring 450. On November 8th, Bhutto was put under house arrest after Musharraf declared a state of Emergency in Pakistan five days earlier. She made several attempts to come out of house arrest only to be stopped by Musharraf’s police. Nonetheless, Bhutto made several phone calls to the international media. Keeping her thoughts on the situation relevant and turning Musharraf’s state of emergency on its head. Musharraf was painted as a true irrational when Bhutto told reporters via phone, “It is impossible to work with him.” International opposition to Musharraf increased during the state of emergency and increased political pressure for Musharraf to step down as head of the military, which he subsequently did on November 28th.
Potentially more disheartening is the fact that Bhutto’s father, former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was hanged on highly disputed charges of corruption when Benazir was 26. The two Bhuttos are considered martyrs by many.
December 27th, 2007 at 7:16PM
Kennedy was on his way to meet Bhutto | Providence Daily Dose Says:
[...] RI Rep Patrick Kennedy was on his way to meet with slain Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto when she was assassinated. [...]