Pakistan in Violence After Bhutto’s Death
By Emal Pashtunar
Special to Korea Times
ISLAMABAD ― Almost all of Pakistan's larger cities are in the grip of severe violence in the aftermath of the assassination of the country's two-time former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in a suicide attack in the city of Rawalpindi, Thursday.
Bhutto, the first woman prime minister of a Muslim country, was shot in the head and neck by her assassin who then detonated a bomb killing many bystanders and himself. The attack came as she left an election rally in Rawalpindi, some 22 kilometers from the capital Islamabad. General elections in Pakistan are scheduled for January 8.
Twenty more people, mostly leaders and political workers of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) were among the dead.
The news of her death spread quickly and the cities of Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Quetta and Peshawar saw angry protestors setting fire to police stations, hospitals, officials buses and cars, schools, petrol pumps, banks and shops.
The destruction by angry PPP workers continued through night and into the morning. Later in the day, public transport remained halted and almost all the cities' streets were deserted.
The body of Bhutto was moved to her native town of Larkana by helicopter. She was laid to rest near the grave of her father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in Naw Dhero, her party's spokesman Farhatullah Babar told The Korea Times.
The attack came as Bhutto waved to the crowd from her car. Shots were fired followed by a huge explosion, and Bhutto was rushed to hospital in critical condition with bullet wounds to her neck head and chest. She was pronounced dead an hour after reaching thhe hospital, her Pakistan People's Party ( PPP) spokesman Farhatullah Babar told journalists.
Alongside the 20 confirmed dead 50 people were reported injured ― their identities have yet to be released but sources said close aides Nahid Khan, Sherry Rehman and Rehman Malik were among those with injuries.
The attack was the second on Bhutto within two months and follows previous bombings. In October, over 100 people were killed and more than 200 injured when a suicide bomb blew himself up during a mammoth rally in the port city of Karachi.
Since her arrival in Pakistan ― after eight years in self-imposed exile in London and Dubai ― Bhutto had begun stumping in various cities ignoring warnings from security agencies about threats to her life from Islamic extremists.
Pre-election polls had revealed that her PPP will win a majority of the seats during the upcoming elections. However, a pall has been drawn on the elections after the demise of the party leader.
Born in 1953 in Sindh province of Pakistan, Bhutto graduated from Howard University. The military dictator General Ziaul Haq executed her father, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
She became the first woman prime minister of a Muslim country when her party won a majority in the National Assembly in the 1988 elections. However, the then president Ghulam Ishaq Khan overthrew her government after two years.
Bhutto was elected prime minister in 1993 for a second time, but again her government was dissolved by another president Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari. In 1999, she left the country after a confrontation with the then prime minister and her archrival Nawaz Sharif.
Condemning Bhutto's death, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf called on the people of his country to remain calm.
He said his government would continue its struggle against terrorists.
Other leaders, including Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League, Asfandyar Wali Khan of the Awami National Party, Qazi Hussain Ahmad of the Jamate Islami, and Maulana Fazlur Rahman of the Jamiat Ulemae Islam also expressed grief and sorrow over Bhutto's assassination.
Her killing was also condemned by the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, France and Afghanistan .