12/27/2007
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto Assassinated at Rally
Two-time former Pakistani Prime Minister and current opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday after an attacker shot her in the neck and chest before blowing himself up and killing at least 20 other people at the end of an election rally in Rawalpindi, Pakistan where Bhutto (pictured here, at the rally) spoke.
The AP reports: "Bhutto's supporters erupted in anger and grief after her death, attacking police and burning tires and election campaign posters in several cities. At the hospital where she died, some smashed glass and wailed, chanting slogans against President Pervez Musharraf."
Pakistan was set to have elections on January 8, but all was thrown into doubt today as the nation plunged into chaos amid anger, mourning, and security fears.
According to the BBC, "It was the second suicide attack against [Bhutto] in recent months and came amid a wave of bombings targeting security and government officials. Nawaz Sharif, also a former prime minister and a political rival, said her death was a tragedy for 'the entire nation'. 'It is not a sad day, it is [the] darkest, gloomiest day in the history of this country,' he said, speaking at the hospital where she was taken. The United Nations Security Council is to meet for emergency consultations shortly to discuss the situation in Pakistan after the killing...Mr Sharif said there had been a 'serious lapse in security' by the government. But an old friend of Ms Bhutto, Salman Tassir, told the BBC World Service he did not think criticism should be directed at the government. 'There have been suicide attacks on Gen Musharraf also,' he told Newshour. '... I mean it is extremism and the fanatics who are to blame.'"
AFP: "There have been more than 40 suicide attacks in Pakistan this year that have left at least 770 people dead."
The Times Online reports: "The main suspects in Benazir Bhutto’s assassination are the Pakistani and foreign Islamist militants who saw her as a heretic and an American stooge and had repeatedly threatened to kill her. But fingers will also be pointed at Inter-Services Intelligence, the agency that has had close ties to the Islamists since the 1970s and has been used by successive Pakistani leaders to suppress political opposition."
AP via Guardian: Bullets Cut Short a Life of Epic Sweep: "Bhutto's father was hanged and a brother was shot to death. She had risen to become the Muslim world's first female prime minister, only to lose office and flee Pakistan for most of a decade in the face of accusations she was corrupt. And when, finally, she returned in October to marshal the opposition against President Pervez Musharraf, her homecoming parade in Karachi was targeted by a suicide attacker. More than 140 people, died, but the 54-year-old Bhutto escaped injury and threw herself into the campaign..."
President Bush, from his ranch in Texas, called the assassination "a cowardly act by murderous extremists" and called on the country to "honor Benazir Bhutto's memory by continuing with the democratic process for which she so bravely gave her life."
Who killed Benazir Bhutto? The main suspects [times online]
Former premier Benazir Bhutto assassinated in Pakistan [afp]
Pakistan's Bhutto killed in attack [ap]
Posted 11:50 AM EST by Andy Towle in Benazir Bhutto, Deaths, News, Pakistan | Permalink
Like it?
Subscribe to FREE Towleroad daily headlines with our RSS feed!
RECENT STORIES:
Comments
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
this is beyond sad. being 34, i've been witness to much of her public life. she's always stood as a paragon of democracy and human rights - more than any american politician i can think of, even with her flaws. i hope her assassination can somehow bring about the kind of change she ultimately gave her life for.
Posted by: buzz | Dec 27, 2007 12:13:04 PM
It is tragedy but hopefully this will rally the populace to rise against the extremists.
Posted by: ousslander | Dec 27, 2007 12:14:36 PM
This is blow for democracy and women in Pakistan and in the entire Muslim world! We continue to faced with "extremist" Muslims and they do not want the U.S. or Western ways to influence their countries. The most disturbing fact is that they simply want all "infidels" to be killed. And yes, we as Americans are infidels worthy of the same death as Bhutto! Sad, yes, but yet another wake up call. The region is not ready for democracy nor a friend to America!!!
Posted by: RB | Dec 27, 2007 12:58:02 PM
GB, you said my thoughts much more eloquently than me. Until we rid the world of Islamofascism, we will be faced with these types of crimes forever.
Posted by: Bill H | Dec 27, 2007 1:03:59 PM
Very sad. It is sad how certain religions in the name of God committ such heinouse crimes. We forget how even in our own backyards people of extreme christiam views shoot abortion clinic doctors or murder people because of their sexuality. Get rid of religion ! :)
Posted by: Shan | Dec 27, 2007 1:12:16 PM
Beyond the tragedy of loosing a committed and intelligent leader, this is a blow to world stability. Pakistan has nuclear bombs. The world is a small place, and events there will effect us here.
Posted by: dave | Dec 27, 2007 1:22:04 PM
Beyond the tragedy of loosing a committed and intelligent leader, this is a blow to world stability. Pakistan has nuclear bombs. The world is a small place, and events there will effect us here.
Posted by: dave | Dec 27, 2007 1:24:26 PM
This is terrible news, and I'm deeply sad for Pakistan today. I would like to express my sympathies to Benazir's family and to the nation. Watching the news today, I sense this attack will actually boost the call to democracy rather than diminish it. May Benazir rest in peace.
Posted by: SeanR | Dec 27, 2007 1:35:05 PM
"she's always stood as a paragon of democracy and human rights"
You have GOT to be kidding; just because she was Musharraf's rival does not make her a democrat. She and her husband were corrupt embezzlers, and her government was one of THREE to recognize the Taliban when they ran Afghanistan.
Ignorance is epidemic...
Posted by: Bill W | Dec 27, 2007 1:38:36 PM
holy fuck, these people are batshit crazy... what am i listening to now?... tales of hoffman with the late great beverly sills...
Posted by: the queen | Dec 27, 2007 1:53:58 PM
Anytime someone is killed for their beliefs it is sad but Bill W does have a point. I had no clue after a little research that she and her husband had been removed from government do to corruption with several European countries and she did support the Taliban. She thought they would stabalize Afganistan and improve trade.
Posted by: Matt | Dec 27, 2007 1:54:19 PM
If this was the work of religious extremists (versus parties actually within the government or military), this may continue the backlash against their tactics that is already witnessed in Islamic countries. The extremists remain a minority in most of those places. And the majority is frankly growing tired of living in a constant siege state.
Successful suppression of religious extremism must come from the respective populace of its countries of original. The US is certainly not going to defeat or even quell extremism by continuing its present policies. When the decent majority start to view the radicals in their own ranks as the enemy, then we will start to see a decrease in these activities -- or at least that's my hope.
She was not perfect. No one is - especially no head of state. But she did represent hope for democracy at a crucial time in a crucial part of the world.
Posted by: GM | Dec 27, 2007 2:29:40 PM
Benazir Bhutto was always one of my heroes. I am shocked at her murder and at the chaos that will now envelop Pakistan as the populace there reels from this attack.
I believe that the one chance that Pakistan had to move towards democracy and peace has now been destroyed.
Rest well, Benazir. You will sorely be missed.
Posted by: Jonathon | Dec 27, 2007 3:00:04 PM
Dear Gussy, boys...the US government supported the Taliban too and gave them a hell of a lot more money and arms than Pakistan could possibly scrounge up...they were called mujahadin then. Yes, Bill W., Bhutto was as corrupt as any other political figure in the entire subcontinent...Prime Minister Singh of India is probably the sole exception...but she WAS an elected prime minister. She WAS an ardent supporter of women's rights in an area of the world where females are considered property, at best. She WAS making major attempts to stabilize relations with India. And she WAS a secularist.
You’re right, Bill W., ignorance is epidemic. You’re verging on intellectual influenza and really should be in quarantine.
Posted by: JT | Dec 27, 2007 3:04:19 PM
What I did was point out she was not "a champion of democracy," etc, and all the other garbage that is no doubt filling the cable news / corporatist shill outlets.
That's the second time I've gotten "Nobody's perfect!" to embezzling a billion dollars! Hilarious! No wonder so many of you think Hillary Rodham is a goddess.
We've had plaenty of political assassinations in this country without "Islamofascism," if you've noticed.
"Get rid of religion" sounds quite fascist to me, Shan. Where would that have left Martin Luther King?
Posted by: Bill W | Dec 27, 2007 3:50:33 PM
So much for peace on earth...
Posted by: David Pasteelnick | Dec 27, 2007 3:54:57 PM
"a cowardly act by murderous extremists"
UGH. So much ignorance in that statement. First of all, how in the world was this "cowardly." That is a stupid saying we apply to these kinds of attacks that means nothing.
Second, "extremist." This person was just deeply observant, as most of Islam is. Islam is not a peaceful religion, and anyone who tells you otherwise has got themselves fooled. Read the hadith.
We most move on from religious belief. It is poison.
Posted by: JLS | Dec 27, 2007 3:58:51 PM
RB
evidence points towards a political assasination (gun shots killed her not the explosion) since she was slated to win the upcoming jauary election
bush's 2 nd best freind musharaf is behind it. bush's 1st best freind are the saudi royal family who many members of have gotten into trouble for laundering money for al queda
WAKE UP!
Far be it from me to defend any fairytale religion , but religion had nothing to do with this sad turn of events. It was all politics!
wake up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Jimmyboyo | Dec 27, 2007 5:19:11 PM
JLS
You are correct in that islam is not a peacefulreligion
Neither are xtianityor judaism
All 3 monotheistic fairytales are bloody as hell fairytales
Point in fact Towleroad reports months ago about the charedi ultra orthedox jews throwing molotav cocktails, rocks, and actual bombs et against police and gay activists in Israel due t a gay pride parade. thecaredi every sbath throw rocksat cars that are driving by them. The majority secular israeli nation bemoans its own version of fundimental religion which = violence, ignorance, and etc.
xtianity = witness th past 2,000 years
Not defendingthe equaly fairytle islam, bt it is by far not the only violent religion. All religions ive cover to and stimulate violence in their followers.
Posted by: Jimmyboyo | Dec 27, 2007 5:24:42 PM
The sad part is that, like many female leaders in the developing world, she never would have achieved success had it not been for her lineage or assassinated husband---think Indira Ghandi, Corazon Aquino, etc. (Though we've also had a few representatives here who got into office after their husbands died.) Yet she did, and she made a difference, though her death seemed inevitable and it's absurd that she didn't have better protection.
And it's unreasonable to say that the entire region is not a friend to America. Pakistan is technically in South Asia, which includes India---certainly a friend of ours. Of course, Pakistan also shares borders with Middle Eastern countries, but they are not united in their opposition to the United States. My hope is that once Bush leaves office, relations will dramatically improve, there and all over the world.
As for corruption, witness it in our various "leaders" (Feinstein voting for her husband's interests, Louisiana Congressman Jefferson, the many Republicans linked to Jack Abramhoff, Cheney and Haliburton, Bush and Big Oil...it's a long list). Power corrupts. Old story.
Posted by: Paul | Dec 27, 2007 5:27:40 PM
typos galore
:-)
Posted by: Jimmyboyo | Dec 27, 2007 5:30:23 PM
Did this world event interrupt Bush's weeklong vacation at the ranch enough for him to fly back to the real White House?
Posted by: Malibu Boy | Dec 27, 2007 5:32:53 PM
I see her blood on Bush's hands. 20 years from now we will find out that the Bush Administration paid for the killing. SAD SAD Day for the World!
Posted by: Karen | Dec 27, 2007 5:51:08 PM
Musharraf is a friend to the United States only in the sense that he isn't outwardly hostile and allows us to give him weaponry and money in exchange for some small concessions (though allowing us to look for bin Laden in his country is not among them). He talks out of both sides of his mouth, defending and harboring al Qaeda, and in recent months has refused to be the U.S. puppet some of his countrymen claimed he was being.
We would have been much better off with Bhutto in office. Musharraf only just canceled his imposition of near-martial law, and is scrambling to stay in power. I have little doubt that he's behind this---no way did he want a power sharing agreement with Bhutto---and that Bush & Co. are not at all happy about it.
Posted by: Paul | Dec 27, 2007 6:25:21 PM
CNN
Blitzer reveals a private e-mail from Bhutto that warned upon her death = BLAME Musharaf
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/12/27/blitzer-exclusive-bhutto_n_78475.html
Posted by: Jimmyboyo | Dec 27, 2007 8:43:39 PM