Ok Norfolk Blogger is telling us that the cause of death of Benazir Bhutto may be a strange one. However, he is quoting Brigadier Javed Iqbal Cheema the Interior Minister, a close assosiate of President Pervez Musharraf, Ms Bhutto's opponent, who says she died from a a fractured skull as the result of banging her head on the lever for the sun roof. Now I'm not sure what speed the car was going at, due to the crowds it was distinctly slow so that would have had to be some knock to achieve what is claimed.
Now forgive me for being a little cynical of the Musharraf government at present, but the surgeon who treated her Dr Mussadiq Khan said she had died of a shrapnel would from the bomb blast. While Rehman Malik Ms Bhutto's security adviser who was at the scene said he thought she had been shoot. Now being someone who studies history I know the importance of first hand accounts which these later two are. Mr Malik is not the only one to speak of gun shots before the bomb went off.
The Daily Mail has Reuters pictures which do show blood on the handle, but an imapct wound of someone falling would not have produced quite so much blood so quickly on a sinking frame especially on a woman wearing a headscarf. They also show x-rays which show trauma to the head and a fractured skull. But what exactly caused that fracture would still be open to debate.
Maybe once the Diana enquiry is out of the way some paper will run with this for as long as Diana conspiracies has been hanging around. Though knowing our press and their coverage of world affairs I doubt it will last more than a few weeks, if that.
Showing posts with label Benazir Bhutto. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Benazir Bhutto. Show all posts
Friday, 28 December 2007
Is This Also the Burial of Pakistan Democracy?
As is the Islamic custom Benazir Bhutto has been buried before nightfall. With her death being so late that meant today. The Bhutto family are as much martyrs for their country as the Neru/Ghandi family across the border in India.
But what next for Pakistan?
At the moment there are three days of national mourning for the ex-Prime Minster the first female to hold such a position in a Muslim state and plans are still going ahead to hold the elections on 8 January. It is the plan to remain on track with the process of politics that is causing some concern.
Ms Bhutto's rival Nawaz Sharif, who was also a former Prime Minister who was also in Rawalpindi yesterday has said his party will boycott the vote if it goes ahead on in 11 days time in response to the attack.
The violence that has erupted around Pakistan overnight has almost claimed as many lives (17) as the initial attack which claimed Bhutto and her supporters (at least 20). Unrest is something that is unlikely to subside swiftly and this could still be having an effect on elections not too far away.
Obviously the best result for the region is to return to as much normality as possible as swiftly as that is sensible. But for President Pervez Musharraf maintains on track thinking it convenient and opportune, when the leader of the largest opposition party has only just been laid to rest, would appear to many eyes to be potentially self-seeking, but also may backfire on him. It may lead to enhance the anti-Musharraf feeling, and also without someone who was willing to at least move forward with him, although in recent weeks that relationship was becoming strained, he will need the support of more and less influential individuals to advance along democratic lines, especially with Sharif effectively ruling himself out of the equation.
Democracy is not yet dead in Pakistan, but if people aren't careful in the next few days it may suffer fatally under an overhasty stampede, but could also die of neglect if not advanced appropriately. The life support machine is heavily reliant not just on the actions but the timing of those actions.
But what next for Pakistan?
At the moment there are three days of national mourning for the ex-Prime Minster the first female to hold such a position in a Muslim state and plans are still going ahead to hold the elections on 8 January. It is the plan to remain on track with the process of politics that is causing some concern.
Ms Bhutto's rival Nawaz Sharif, who was also a former Prime Minister who was also in Rawalpindi yesterday has said his party will boycott the vote if it goes ahead on in 11 days time in response to the attack.
The violence that has erupted around Pakistan overnight has almost claimed as many lives (17) as the initial attack which claimed Bhutto and her supporters (at least 20). Unrest is something that is unlikely to subside swiftly and this could still be having an effect on elections not too far away.
Obviously the best result for the region is to return to as much normality as possible as swiftly as that is sensible. But for President Pervez Musharraf maintains on track thinking it convenient and opportune, when the leader of the largest opposition party has only just been laid to rest, would appear to many eyes to be potentially self-seeking, but also may backfire on him. It may lead to enhance the anti-Musharraf feeling, and also without someone who was willing to at least move forward with him, although in recent weeks that relationship was becoming strained, he will need the support of more and less influential individuals to advance along democratic lines, especially with Sharif effectively ruling himself out of the equation.
Democracy is not yet dead in Pakistan, but if people aren't careful in the next few days it may suffer fatally under an overhasty stampede, but could also die of neglect if not advanced appropriately. The life support machine is heavily reliant not just on the actions but the timing of those actions.
Thursday, 27 December 2007
Benazir Bhutto Killed in Rawalpindi Rally
In October when Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan only for her cavalcade to be subject to suicide bombers I did asked where next?
With the elections less than 2 weeks away on 8 January, she was out at a rally in Rawalpindi when yet again she was subject to a suicide bomber. At the moment this attempt appears to have claimed significantly fewer lived than the 130 who died on the day of her return from exile.
Reports as to Ms Bhutto’s own safety have slowly been emerging. Initially she was reported as safe, then injured, now reports from one of her PPP party security officials are saying that she is
badly injured.
Earlier in the day also in Rawalpindi 4 people died ahead of a rally that was to be attended by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Update:
The latest that is coming through from Reuters is that Benazir Bhuto has died in hospital following this attack.
If this is the case she came back to her homeland knowing the dangers she could face seeking to allow democracy to come to Pakistan and she has paid the ultimate price.
Update 2:
The latest according to the BBC's scrolling headline is that Ms Bhutto was shot in the neck and chest before the gunman became a suicide bomber. If that is the case there would have been very little chance of her surviving as her closest aides would also have been taken out by the blast of shots at the point of the blast as chaos ensued.
Benazir Bhutto 1953-2007
With the elections less than 2 weeks away on 8 January, she was out at a rally in Rawalpindi when yet again she was subject to a suicide bomber. At the moment this attempt appears to have claimed significantly fewer lived than the 130 who died on the day of her return from exile.
Reports as to Ms Bhutto’s own safety have slowly been emerging. Initially she was reported as safe, then injured, now reports from one of her PPP party security officials are saying that she is
badly injured.
Earlier in the day also in Rawalpindi 4 people died ahead of a rally that was to be attended by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Update:
The latest that is coming through from Reuters is that Benazir Bhuto has died in hospital following this attack.
If this is the case she came back to her homeland knowing the dangers she could face seeking to allow democracy to come to Pakistan and she has paid the ultimate price.
Update 2:
The latest according to the BBC's scrolling headline is that Ms Bhutto was shot in the neck and chest before the gunman became a suicide bomber. If that is the case there would have been very little chance of her surviving as her closest aides would also have been taken out by the blast of shots at the point of the blast as chaos ensued.
Benazir Bhutto 1953-2007
Friday, 19 October 2007
Pakistan: Where Next?
What a contrast a few short hours and miles makes. Benazir Bhutto arrives to great celebration at Karachi airport to thousands of supporters but as the party atmosphere of many filled the streets an hand grenade followed by a suicide bomb attempt killed upwards of 130 people many of them part of Ms Bhotto's security detail. She had only made half her intended route to a rally marking her return.
Her return is an attempt to return democracy to Pakistan and rein in the militancy that has grown there since 9-11. Of course she knows the risks she has taken, Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden have both issued death threats against her should she return.
In a area of the world sadly reknowned for politcal assasinations this stands out as the greatest single act of carnage in Pakistan. Even General Musharraf said the attack was a "conspiracy against democracy". So the war against democracy has a new target, this time close to their hinterland, and has taken yet more innocent victims.
If a Pakistani who says enough is enough and is seeking to change the outlook is targetted we know that our own leaders have to try harder to understand and seek a solution which doesn't cause total antagonism. If that moment has not already passed.
Her return is an attempt to return democracy to Pakistan and rein in the militancy that has grown there since 9-11. Of course she knows the risks she has taken, Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden have both issued death threats against her should she return.
In a area of the world sadly reknowned for politcal assasinations this stands out as the greatest single act of carnage in Pakistan. Even General Musharraf said the attack was a "conspiracy against democracy". So the war against democracy has a new target, this time close to their hinterland, and has taken yet more innocent victims.
If a Pakistani who says enough is enough and is seeking to change the outlook is targetted we know that our own leaders have to try harder to understand and seek a solution which doesn't cause total antagonism. If that moment has not already passed.
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