2007 murder of Benazir Bhutto (new title)
CNN - RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistan former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has died after a suicide bombing that killed at least 14 of her supporters, ex-government spokesman Tariq Azim Khan and Pakistan's primary television networks said.
Bhutto suffered bullet wounds in the aftermath of the bomb attack, TV networks report.
Video of the scene just moments before the explosion showed Bhutto stepping into a heavily-guarded vehicle to leave the rally.
Khan said while it appeared Bhutto was shot, it was unclear if her bullet wounds were caused by a shooting or shrapnel from the bomb.
The suicide attack left at least 14 dead and 40 injured, Khan told CNN in a telephone interview.
The attacker is said to have detonated a bomb as he tried to enter the rally where thousands of people gathered to hear Bhutto speak, police said.
This could get messy, really, really messy....
Anyone remember a little place called Sarajevo? Similarities? Or am I just over reacting?
Key players will indeed be tested, let us hope cool heads prevail though I rather doubt that based on recent history. Key players indeed, and they are all right there in such close proximity. Once the fuse is lit, I'm afraid it will be extremely difficult to put it out.
Not to speak ill of the dead, but...
I'm clueless when it comes to Pakistani politics, but my closest colleague would qualify as an expert in most people's books. He lived there for many years, and is married to the daughter of the (now deceased) founder of the Pakistani Special Services Group (SSG). Despite what would seem to be privaleged status among the Pakistani security elite, my colleague's family-by-marriage has been active and visible in opposing the extremes of the Musharaf regime.
He and his wife have told me for many years that Bhutto was widely hated in Pakistan, by a majority of the population, because of the visible extent of the corruption that existed under her regime. She easily beat out Sharif when comparing hands in cookie jars. Her husband is still under threat in some quarters for his violent extortion of land from poor land holders. She was warned about the trundling along of her convoy upon return to the country by the security services, and the prevailing view among my colleague and his friends and family is that she viewed those killed as means to an end, simply fodder, especially since so many of them were members of the same security services that warned her about the foolishness of the parade.
Having heard my colleague's views of Bhutto for the past decade, it is interesting to me that there is, and has been so little digging into her misdeads by western media sources. I remember some soft-sell 60 Minutes piece quite a few years ago that made me a believer, until I received several doses of reality from my colleague. I think to a large degree we bamboozled ourselves because Bhutto was a Harvard-educated woman, and the collective US consiousness couldn't quite fathom that she was just another corrupt dictator.
I'm not suggesting any abandonment of realpolitik. Just think its better served by Musharaf, and hopefully this will subside despite the handwringing of our media folks.
Cheers,
Rex--Islamic Law in Pakistan
Yes re Hudood. Nevertheless, the last night you could drink a legal beer in the Pindi Club was during Zulf Bhutto's reign...
Cheers,
Mike.
UK offers help for investigation
Been off-line for three days and have picked up that Pakistan has accepted an offer from the UK, for the Metropolitan Police to assist the investigation. The Met often get such calls, in terrorism and other cases. One piece of BBC film footage showed the actual scene had been washed clean, with a firehose, which led President Musharraf to comment it was not what he had ordered.
Scene management is one of the standard investigation tactics, which the Met has great experience of - so that is probably lost. Second comes acquiring all possible still & video footage (including un-broadcast) and that will take time. The comes interviewing all possible witnesses, preferably id'd at the time by those attending the scene - unlikely I fear.
The UK has just upgraded the post of a CTLO in Islamabad (Counter-Terrorist Liasion Officer), one hopes his advice has already been given to the Pakistani authorities and he is ex-Met.
From this armchair a very long uphill struggle and then there's the politics!
davidbfpo
Scotland Yard to the rescue?
The Sunday Times (London) under the title 'Scotland Yard believes Al-Qaeda assassinated Benazir Bhutto' is an odd story reporting Scotland Yard have provided Pakistan with an initial report on Ms Bhutto's murder:
Link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle3177691.ece
I note the Bhutto family and the PPP reject this report and still advocate a UN investigation. Just a little too much "spin" at play here.
davidbfpo
Link to report not working
Tried the link and by going to USIP website - does not work. The links to the authors do. Perhaps too many are reading it?
davidbfpo
Pakistan arrests two 'terrorists' over Bhutto killing
GARHI KHUDA BAKHSH, Pakistan (AFP) — Pakistani officials said they arrested two "terrorists" Thursday over the slaying of Benazir Bhutto...
Quote:
With pressure growing on the government to solve her murder, investigators said they had seized two "very important alleged terrorists" in Rawalpindi on Thursday morning in connection with the attack.
A statement by a Pakistani investigation team probing the attack said it had "arrested two very important alleged terrorists, Hasnain and Rafaqat, this morning from Rawalpindi with the help of Rawalpindi police."
"They are being interrogated," it added.
Both men had "tentacles from the tribal region and Baitullah Mehsud," a senior security official said, referring to an Al-Qaeda-linked militant commander based in the restive border region of South Waziristan.
Last month police arrested a 15-year-old boy who allegedly confessed to being part of a back-up squad of suicide bombers tasked by Mehsud to target Bhutto if the initial attack failed.
Thursday's arrests also coincided with the return to Pakistan of a Scotland Yard team invited by President Pervez Musharraf to help probe Bhutto's murder, although officials said there was no link with the new arrests.
The British detectives are due to present their report on the killing to the Pakistani government on Friday.
The UN reports on the attack
Long awaited and expected by some to have an impact in Pakistan - the report on Ms Bhutto's murder by the UN:
Quote:
A United Nations investigation into the assassination of the former opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has concluded that the failure of Pakistani authorities to effectively investigate the killing was “deliberate,” saying that the country’s powerful intelligence agency “severely hampered” local authorities.
The 65-page report, issued in New York on Thursday, did not answer the question of who killed Ms. Bhutto, or even give the precise cause of death. It was concerned instead with looking into the facts and circumstances surrounding her death in a suicide bombing and gun attack at a political rally in December 2007.
From:http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/16/wo.../16bhutto.html
Link to report:http://www.un.org/News/dh/infocus/Pa...5April2010.pdf
Might read the UN report and update another day.
Two police officials arrested in Bhutto assassination
Thanks to FP Blog mailing, which has picked up on a CNN report:
Quote:
Pakistan arrested two senior police officials Wednesday in connection with the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto..... Aziz was the police chief in the Rawalpindi district at the time of Bhutto's assassination while Shehzad was the head of her security team.
The two have been accused of security breaches, covering up evidence by hosing down the crime scene and failing to conduct a post-mortem examination on Bhutto.
Link:http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/as..._igoogle_world
Three Years After Benazir's Murder...
Bhutto murder: Pakistan police and Taliban charged
An update on what happened to the investigation:
Quote:
An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan has charged two senior police officers over the 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. They were charged with security breaches and failure to protect her, prosecutors said.
Five alleged Taliban militants have also been charged with criminal conspiracy over Bhutto's death.
Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-15605565
Questions Concerning the Murder of Benazir Bhutto
An in-depth article by Owen Bennett-Jones, ex BBC World Service and now at an American university, in 'The London Review of Books':http://www.lrb.co.uk/v34/n23/owen-be...benazir-bhutto
It has everything you'd ever want in a straight forward, simple TV crime documentary. No, it does not. Owen draws together a complex, bewildering set of facts, the weirdness - to outsiders - of Pakistani politics, the "dark arts" of power and violence. Plus that favourite device, the revolving door of being in state custody; not to overlook fire hoses. One hell of a read.
His last phrase is an indictment not only of the Pakistani state, its politicians and those who watch with a Nelson eye:
Quote:
there isn’t the slightest reason to believe that the people who tasked the Taliban with Bhutto’s murder will ever face justice.
No wonder the millions of good people in Pakistan stay silent.
There is a historical thread on Ms Bhutto's murder, for those who need some background reading:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ead.php?t=4601
Ten years later: who did kill Benazir Bhutto
Yes today marks the tenth anniversary of her murder and Owen Bennett-Jones, a veteran BBC reporter, for a long time in Pakistan, returns to the story with an excellent explanation IMHO:
Quote:
Benazir Bhutto was the first woman to lead a Muslim country. The decade since an assassin killed her has revealed more about how Pakistan works than it has about who actually ordered her death.
Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-42409374
BBC World Service podcasts x9
Owen Bennett-Jones has a series of nine podcasts on the murder of Benazir Bhutto and the aftermath. I am listening to 'The other dead', which is No.9, it is 29 minutes long and refers to the deaths of so many who were involved afterwards.
Link:https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05...odes/downloads
He is an excellent reporter and knows Pakistan very well.