Bhutto sympathy vote seen key to Pakistan election

The strength of a sympathy vote for assassinated Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto in the country's biggest province is likely to determine the result of a general election on Feb. 18.

The vote could seal the fate of President Pervez Musharraf, even though it is not a presidential election, with opponents calling for the increasingly unpopular leader to step down.

"Certainly there's a sympathy vote," said Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, a vice chairman of Bhutto's party standing in Punjab province, where half the country's 160 million people live and half of its members of parliament will be elected.

"If there's a free, fair and transparent election the PPP will be number one," Gilani said at his house in the city of Multan, while aides bustled about in the gloom of a power cut.

Months of political turmoil and militant violence have raised worries about the stability for the nuclear-armed U.S. ally.

Fear of violence has stifled election campaigning, especially after Bhutto was killed on Dec. 27 in an attack the government blamed on militants, and is also expected to hurt turnout in the election for a National Assembly and four provincial assemblies.

A suicide bomb attack on Saturday at a rally by an ethnic Pashtun nationalist party opposed to Musharraf killed at least 16 people.

Opposition parties have also complained of rigging in favour of Musharraf's allies.

The main challengers to the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League (PML) are Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the party of Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister Musharraf ousted in a coup in 1999. Punjab is their main battleground.

"She was very brave and gave Musharraf a tough time, which nobody else has dared to do. People should vote for her party," Punjab labourer Jumma Khan said of Bhutto.

Musharraf, who stepped down as army chief in November, has lost popularity over his efforts to cling to power, which included the purging of the judiciary and gagging of the media after he imposed a six-week stint of emergency rule on Nov. 3.

His security ties with the United States are also unpopular.

But it is inflation, power cuts and shortages of the staple flour and natural gas that could scupper the election hopes of the PML, which has been ruling under Musharraf.

Musharraf won re-election for another five-year term as president in an October vote by legislators. But critics say he has held on to power unconstitutionally and he could face efforts to unseat him in an opposition-dominated parliament.

PUNJAB IS KEY

Bhutto's party is expected to sweep rural areas of her home province of Sindh and split the vote in its capital, Karachi, with a pro-Musharraf party.

It also looks set to make gains in Punjab, which has the country's most independent voters, unattached to a party and free from caste or tribal voting compulsions, said political analyst and academic Rasul Bakhsh Rais.

"The People's Party has a much brighter chance now than it probably could have had with Bhutto on the scene," Rais said of the sympathy vote. "Punjab is key and I see some change in Punjab in their favour."

Sharif's party, the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), known as the PML-N or Nawaz League, is also expected to do well in Punjab, particularly in urban areas, and could be the biggest there if a sympathy swing to the PPP fizzles.

Sharif's party and the PPP look likely to be in a position to establish a dominant coalition, if they want, analysts say.

But Musharraf's allies cannot be written off. They are fielding strong candidates and have support from powerful families who command banks of votes in the countryside.

Former President Farooq Leghari, standing for the PML in his home district of Dera Ghazi Khan in Punjab, said his party would win although it was being hurt by rising prices and shortages, and discontent with Musharraf.

"People see Musharraf, his leading the so-called war on terror at the behest of the West, as a major factor," said Leghari, who as president dismissed Bhutto's government in 1996 over accusations of corruption and misrule.

"There was a tremendous, huge, crest of sympathy for her but it is ebbing," he said of Bhutto. "What is going to hurt the PML is more the increase in prices and so on rather than any special performance by the other parties."

Perpetrators of 1st attack on BB held: Hamid

 

 

PESHAWAR: Caretaker Federal Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz Khan has claimed that the perpetrators of attack on the late Benazir Bhutto's homecoming procession in Karachi on October 18 have been arrested and will be soon produced in a court of law. The minister expressed these views while talking to journalists after inaugurating new building of Tarnol Police Station here on Tuesday. He said the terrorists involved in suicide attacks near Hamza Camp in Rawalpindi, Kamra Cantt and Sargodha have also been arrested and they would soon be produced before the court.

Doctors who treated Pakistan opposition leader say records removed

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan - Pakistani authorities have pressured the medical personnel who tried to save Benazir Bhutto's life to remain silent about what happened in her final hour and have removed records of her treatment from the facility, according to doctors.

In interviews, doctors who were at Bhutto's side at Rawalpindi General Hospital said they were under extreme pressure not to share details about the nature of the injuries that the opposition leader suffered in an attack here Dec. 27.

"The government took all the medical records right after Ms. Bhutto's time of death was read out," said a visibly shaken doctor who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. Sweating and putting his head in his hands, he said: "Look, we have been told by the government to stop talking. And a lot of us feel this is a disgrace.The doctors now find themselves at the center of a political firestorm over the circumstances of Bhutto's death. The government has said Bhutto, 54, was killed after the force of a suicide bombing caused her head to slam against the lever of her vehicle's sunroof. Bhutto's supporters have pointed to video footage, including a new amateur video released Monday, as proof that she was killed by gunfire.

Serious implications
The truth about what happened has serious implications in Pakistan. The ability of a gunman to fire at Bhutto from close range, as alleged by her supporters, would suggest that an assassin was able to breach government security in a city that serves as headquarters of the Pakistani military, bolstering her supporters' claims that the government failed to provide her with adequate protection.

If a gunman were to blame, it would also raise questions as to why the government has for days insisted otherwise. Bhutto's supporters have called for an international investigation.

The government has repeatedly dismissed allegations of a coverup, and some U.S. medical experts, when asked Monday to review an official hospital description of her wounds, speculated that a skull fracture and not a bullet wound killed Bhutto.

The medical personnel in Rawalpindi, meanwhile, have mostly remained quiet.

"Our doctors have become caught up in this very emotional and political issue," said Fayyaz Ahmed Khan, the doctors' supervisor at Rawalpindi General. "It's a terrible position for our medical professions to be in."

A newly released video that was obtained by Britain's Channel 4 and broadcast Monday cast doubt on the government's claims and appeared to corroborate witnesses' stories. The footage appeared to show a gunman and a suspected suicide bomber approaching Bhutto's sport-utility vehicle. Seconds later, the video showed gunfire and Bhutto's hair and scarf being blown back just as a bomb explodes.

Government officials identified Baitullah Mehsud, a pro-Taliban commander in the restive South Waziristan region, as the organizer of Bhutto's killing. But some observers said the government has been too quick to blame the attack on the Taliban.

Jameel Yusuf, a lead investigator in the 2002 disappearance of American journalist Daniel Pearl in Karachi, said the Pakistani government had blundered badly by not sealing off the crime scene. Moments after Bhutto was killed, workers hosed down the blood at the blast site before any evidence could be collected.

"When you're dealing with a murder of this nature, you need to have forensics," Yusuf said.

Several witnesses say they had yet to be interviewed by police.

Kamran Nazir, 19, was badly injured by shrapnel at the rally where Bhutto was killed. On Monday, he was at Rawalpindi General, with his father at his bedside. His breathing was labored, and the top layer of skin on his face was singed off. He said he was shocked that police had not questioned him.

Slain Bhutto laid to rest amid tears, cries

GARHI KHUDA BAKSH: Aassassinated former premier Benazir Bhutto was laid to rest in her family's ancestral grave to scenes of searing emotion from hundreds of thousands of mourners.

State television said Bhutto was buried at the mausoleum after an imam led the massive crowd in funeral prayers.

A huge roar greeted her coffin, wrapped in the black, green and red flag of her Pakistan People's Party, as it was borne towards the Bhutto mausoleum in a white vehicle.

It took more than two hours to crawl the five kilometres from her family home in Naudero to the private mausoleum in Ghari Khuda Baksh.

Many mourners wailed and beat their chests in an outpouring of grief as the casket passed the vast crowds hanging out of every building and packing every street corner.

As authorities struggled to keep a lid on the seething anger that erupted into violence across the country, the government for the first time pointed a finger at al-Qaeda for her slaying.

The extent of the violence has paralysed the nation, triggering alarm around the world and throwing scheduled January 8 elections into disarray.

Interior ministry spokesman Brigadier Javed Cheema said Bhutto had been on an al-Qaeda hit-list and it was likely the Islamic extremist network played a role in Thursday's suicide attack that killed her and around 20 others.

"Benazir has been on the hit-list of al-Qaeda," he told AFP. "Now there is every possibility that al-Qaeda is behind this tragic attack to undermine the security of Pakistan."

Officials ordered paramilitary forces in PPP stronghold Karachi to shoot rioters on sight and sent troops into several other cities in the south.

At least 19 people have been killed in violence since Bhutto's death, and there have been angry demonstrations in several cities, with mobs ransacking offices and torching buildings and vehicles.

In Rawalpindi, the scene of her killing, police fired tear gas, and a crowd of some 1,500 stormed the office of a pro-government party in Peshawar.

The two-time former premier was buried next to her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, also a prime minister and who was executed by the military in 1979 after being ousted from power.

Bhutto's husband and three children accompanied the coffin as it arrived by helicopter in nearby Naudero ahead of the ceremony.

Bhutto, 54, was leaving a rally where she had been campaigning for the vote when a suicide bomber shot her in the neck before blowing himself up.

US President George W. Bush described the killing as a "cowardly act" and telephoned Musharraf to urge Pakistan to stay on the path of democracy

Global stocks rattled by Benazir murder, weak data

Asian stock markets fell in early deals Friday following heavy losses on Wall Street as the murder of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto sparked jitters about global security, dealers said. Bhutto's assassination, together with weak US economic data, sent nervous investors fleeing to safe haven investments, dealers said. Her death Thursday in Pakistan raised geopolitical concerns about stability in the nuclear-armed country, they added. Gold and oil prices rose in Asian trade with crude futures climbing back towards the 100 dollars-per-barrel mark. "Benazir's death could raise the geopolitical tension which would sustain the rise in oil prices," said Prayoga Triyono, a fund manager at Henan Putirai Asset Management in Jakarta

Musharraf vows to defeat terrorists

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf condemned the killing of former premier Benazir Bhutto Thursday, saying it was the work of terrorists and resolving not to rest until they were eliminated. Speaking on state media after a suicide attacker killed the country's charismatic opposition leader in Rawalpindi, Musharraf said "this brutality is the handiwork of those terrorists against whom we are fighting." "This is a big tragedy for the nation, which cannot be explained in words," he said. "I am deeply grieved and condemn it strongly." "I have always been saying that the Pakistani nation faces the biggest threat from these terrorists," said Musharraf, who announced three days of national mourning

Oil prices at month-highs after Benazir killing

World oil traded above 97 dollars a barrel in Asia on Friday, its highest level in a month, following the assassination of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, dealers said. They said the rise in prices was also supported by a US report showing a higher-than-expected drop in US crude stockpiles. In morning trade, New York's main contract, light sweet crude for February delivery, was 39 cents higher at 97.01 dollars a barrel after closing 65 cents higher in New York. Brent North Sea crude for February rose 23 cents to 95.01 dollars a barrel after a jump of 84 cents in London trade on Thursday. Trading volumes remained thin amid year-end holiday celebrations.

Benazir’s dead body being taken to Garhi Khuda Bakhsh for burial

Dead body of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto is being taken to Garhi Khuda Bakhsh for burial. Her dead body was brought by a C-130 flight to Sukkur Airport from where it was taken to Moenjodaro by helicopter. Along with the dead body of Benazir Bhutto, her husband Asif Ali Zardari, elder daughter Bakhtawar, younger daughter Asifa, son Bilawal, central leader of the PPP Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Shery Rehman and other persons arrived in Sukkur. Here, her corps was shifted to an army helicopter and taken to Larkana. Her dead body, her husband Asif Ali Zardari, all three children, Amin Fahim, Shery Rehman and other 22 persons were taken to Larkana by a bus along with police security. The helicopter left Sukkur for Moenjodaro Airport at 3-40 am. The dead body will be taken from the Moenjodaro Airport to Garhi Khuda Bakhsh by ambulance.

US calls for calm and elections in Pakistan

The United States appealed for calm and urged its "war on terror" ally Pakistan to press on with its elections after the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto. Condemning the "cowardly" suicide attack that killed her, US President George W. Bush urged Pakistanis Thursday "to honor Benazir Bhutto's memory by continuing with the democratic process for which she so bravely gave her life." The attack at an election rally in the Pakistani city Rawalpindi sparked deadly riots and fears for stability in the nuclear-armed country, as well as overshadowing next month's planned elections, which Bhutto had been tipped to win. Bush telephoned President Pervez Musharraf to discuss the situation, the White House said, while US officials appealed for calm in Pakistan amid deadly riots following Bhutto's murder. "The US strongly condemns this cowardly act by murderous extremists who are trying to undermine Pakistan's democracy," Bush told reporters.

Benazir's body arrives for burial in family graveyard

The body of slain Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto arrived in southern Sindh province before dawn Friday for burial in the family's graveyard, party officials said. The plane landed in Sukkur from where the body and members of her family were flown by helicopter to Naudero, her spokesman Farhatullah Babar told Agencies. Her husband Asif Zardari, their three children and some senior leaders of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) travelled on the plane. Bhutto will be buried in the ancestral graveyard in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh near the grave of her father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Babar said. Her family members and close relatives will have a last glimpse of the body before funeral prayers scheduled for noon (0130 PM), he said. Security was tight in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh as thousands of her party members and supporters were expected to attend the burial ceremony. Caravans of her supporters are expected to arrive from several towns in Sindh, which is considered a PPP stronghold, party officials said.