DUSHANBE, December 28, Asia-Plus – The body of the assassinated former Pakistani PM, Benazir Bhutto, has been flown to her home village in Sindh for burial amid fears of further violence.
President Pervez Musharraf appealed for calm after she was killed at a rally in Rawalpindi on Thursday, but deadly riots later erupted in several cities. At least 11 deaths were reported as her angry supporters took to the streets.
The killing was condemned worldwide, with the UN Security Council describing it as a reprehensible act of terrorism. US officials called for the parliamentary election scheduled for 8 January to go ahead as planned, but the BBC”s Sanjay Dasgupta says the assassination has raised a huge question mark over the poll.
Ms Bhutto”s political rival and fellow former Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, reacted to news of her death by announcing that his party, the Muslim League, would boycott the vote. “I demand that Musharraf quit power, without delay of a single day, to save Pakistan,” he told reporters on Thursday.
There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attack. Analysts believe Islamist militants to be the most likely group behind it.
Ms Bhutto was leaving an election rally in Rawalpindi on Thursday when a gunman shot her in the neck and set off a bomb. At least 20 other people were killed by the blast.
Her body was later taken from a hospital in the northern city, where she was pronounced dead after the attack, to a military airport. Her simple wooden coffin was accompanied on board a military aircraft by her husband Asif Zardari and their three children. The coffin was transferred to a helicopter and taken to her ancestral family home in Larkana in the southern province of Sindh.
She is expected to be buried at about 1300 next to her father, former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto – who was overthrown in a military coup by Gen Zia ul-Haq in 1977 and executed two years later.
After Gen Zia died in an explosion on board his aircraft in 1988, she became one of the first democratically elected female prime ministers in an Islamic country.
Ms Bhutto was twice prime minister of Pakistan, from 1988 to 1990, and from 1993 to 1996. She was sacked on both occasions on corruption charges. She returned from eight years of self-imposed exile in October following a power-sharing agreement with President Musharraf, who granted an amnesty.
Shortly after her return, she survived bomb attacks on her convoy in the southern city of Karachi that killed more than 130 people.
At Thursday”s fateful rally organized by Ms Bhutto”s Pakistan People”s Party (PPP) in Rawalpindi, she spoke about the risks she ran, saying: “I put my life in danger and came here because I feel this country is in danger. People are worried.”
The assassination was condemned worldwide. The UN Security Council described it as a “reprehensible act of terrorism” and urged “all Pakistanis to exercise restraint and maintain stability in the country”. US President George W Bush said the perpetrators had been murderous extremists trying to undermine Pakistan”s democracy.
President Musharraf meanwhile went on TV to announce three days of national mourning and to urge citizens to resist terrorism. “I seek unity and support from the nation,” he said. The president made no mention of the election in his address.
As part of the public mourning, schools, commercial centers and banks are being closed for three days. News of the assassination of the leader of the PPP, Pakistan”s most popular party, brought supporters on to the streets.
