حزب مردم بلوچستان Balochistan People’s Party بلوچستانءِ اُستمانءِ گــَل
Bhutto assassination severe blow to U.S. efforts to stabilize Pakistan
WASHINGTON
(AP) -- The assassination of former Pakistani
Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has dealt a severe blow to U.S. efforts to
restore stability and democracy in a turbulent, nuclear-armed Islamic nation
that has been a critical ally in the war on terror.While
not entirely dependent on Bhutto, recent Bush administration policy on
Pakistan had focused heavily on promoting reconciliation between the secular
opposition leader who has been dogged by corruption allegations and
Pakistan's increasingly unpopular president, Pervez Musharraf, ahead of
parliamentary elections set for January.
In Washington and Islamabad, U.S. diplomats urged that January 8 elections should not be postponed and strongly advised against a reimposition of emergency rule that Musharraf had lifted just weeks ago.
In 1987 Benazir Bhutto married with Asif Ali Zardari (chief of Zardari Baloch tribe)
The United States has poured billions of dollars in financial assistance into Pakistan since September 11, 2001, when Musharraf made a calculated decision to align his government with Washington in going after al Qaeda and the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan. That move is blamed for several unsuccessful assassination attempts on him.
But it was not immediately clear, however, what if any influence Washington might have or whether Bhutto's death would drive the United States into a deeper embrace of Musharraf, whom some believe offers the best chance for Pakistani stability despite his democratic shortcomings.
"This latest tragedy is likely to reinforce beliefs that Pakistan is a dangerous, messy place and potentially very unstable and fragile and that they need to cling to Musharraf even more than they did in the past," said Daniel Markey, who left the State Department this year and is now a senior fellow at the private Council on Foreign Relations.
"The weight of the administration is still convinced that Musharraf is a helpful rather than a harmful figure," he said.
Amid the political chaos and uncertainty roiling the country in the wake of Bhutto's slaying, U.S. officials scrambled Thursday to understand the implications for the massive aid and counter-terrorism programs that have been criticized by lawmakers, especially as al Qaeda and Taliban extremists appear resurgent along the Pakistan-Afghan border.
Underscoring the concerns, a grim President Bush interrupted his vacation to personally condemn Bhutto's murder, demanding that those responsible be brought to justice and calling on Pakistanis to continue to press for democracy.
"We urge them to honor Benazir Bhutto's memory by continuing with the democratic process for which she so bravely gave her life," Bush told reporters at his Texas ranch, before speaking briefly to Musharraf by phone.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Bhutto's assassination would "no doubt test the will and patience of the people of Pakistan" but called on the Pakistani people in a statement "to work together to build a more moderate, peaceful, and democratic future."
Yet such calls could fall on deaf ears, experts said.
"The United States does not have a great deal of leverage where Pakistan is concerned," said Wendy Sherman, who served as counselor to former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. "And at the end of the day, the decisions are going to be made by the Pakistani people and by the leadership of Pakistan and not by the United States."
Other analysts warned that Bhutto's assassination might further damage Musharraf, whose democratic credentials have been seriously tarnished by growing authoritarianism, and have lead to widespread unrest.
"Legitimacy for Musharraf will be deferred if not impossible," said Christine Fair, a South Asia expert at the RAND Corporation. "The U.S. likely does not have a plan for this contingency as Musharraf remains a critical ally and because Bhutto's participation was hoped to confer legitimacy to the upcoming January elections."
She also warned that the murder could embolden militants in Pakistan to seek out other high-profile targets.
Bhutto, who served twice as Pakistan's prime minister between 1988 and 1996, was mortally wounded Thursday in a suicide attack that also killed at least 20 others at a campaign rally in Rawalpindi. She had returned to Pakistan from an eight-year exile on October 18 when her homecoming parade in Karachi was also targeted by a suicide attacker.
The attempt on her life added to U.S. concerns about the country that had already been heightened by the situation in Pakistan, largely ungoverned frontier provinces where a truce between Musharraf's government and tribal leaders is credited with helping extremists regroup and reorganize.
In addition, Musharraf's declaration of emergency this fall, along with a clampdown on opposition figures and judges, irritated the administration, which was criticized in Congress for lax oversight of the nearly $10 billion in U.S. that poured into the country since he became an indispensable counterterrorism ally after 9/11.
Under heavy U.S. pressure, Musharraf resigned as army chief and earlier this month lifted emergency rule to prepare for the elections. Bhutto's return and ability to run for parliament had been a cornerstone of Bush's policy in Pakistan.
Congress last week imposed new restrictions on U.S. assistance to Pakistan, including tying $50 million in military aid to State Department assurances that the country is making "concerted efforts" to prevent terrorists from operating inside its borders.
Under the law, which provides a total of $300 million in aid to Pakistan and was signed by Bush on Wednesday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also must guarantee that Pakistan is implementing democratic reforms, including releasing political prisoners and restoring an independent judiciary. The law also prevents any of the funds from being used for cash transfer assistance to Pakistan, but that stipulation had already been adopted by the administration
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press.
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Clinton calls for probe of Bhutto killing
By Ellen Wulfhorst ; 28/12/2007
STORY CITY, Iowa (Reuters)
- Democrat Hillary Clinton called on Friday for an international probe of
Benazir Bhutto's killing and candidates in both parties sparred over foreign
policy six days before Iowa kicks off a close presidential nominating race.
Clinton, battling rivals Barack Obama and John Edwards for the lead in Iowa,
questioned the reliability of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's
government after opposition leader Bhutto's assassination.
"I don't think the Pakistani government at this time under President
Musharraf has any credibility at all," Clinton said in an interview with CNN
as she campaigned across Iowa. "Therefore I am calling for a full
independent international investigation."
On January 3, Iowa kicks off the battle to choose Republican and Democratic
candidates for the November 2008 election to replace President George W.
Bush, and polls show close races in both parties.
Clinton, Obama and Edwards are essentially deadlocked at the top among
Democrats, while rivals Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney battle for the
Republican lead in a state where a win can provide valuable momentum.
Bhutto's killing on Thursday prompted candidates to flex their foreign
policy muscles and, in the case of Clinton and Edwards, tout their
experience. Several other Democrats leveled harsh criticism at Musharraf.
"We have poured billions of dollars in support to President Musharraf -- and
he has not focused on dealing with the terrorist threat that is growing,"
Obama, an Illinois senator, told a crowd in a school gymnasium in
Willamsburg, Iowa.
Bill Richardson, governor of New Mexico and former U.S. ambassador to the
United Nations, criticized his Democratic rivals for not backing Musharraf's
removal. He called for an end to U.S. military aid to Pakistan not directly
related to fighting terrorism until Musharraf resigns.
"Some of my Democratic opponents have misplaced faith in Musharraf. Like the
Bush administration, they cling to a misguided notion that Musharraf can be
trusted as an ally to fight terrorism or to change his despotic ways,"
Richardson said in Des Moines.
Republican Fred Thompson, a former Tennessee senator who is lagging in Iowa
polls and trying to make up ground, warned against rushing to a conclusion
on Musharraf and said candidates should be more "deliberate" on Pakistan.
"I don't think it would be a good idea to call for him to step down now,"
Thompson told CNN. "I hope that we as candidates out here don't start
lobbing these ideas that get plenty of attention but are not very sound."
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Fighters
deny Bhutto killing link
DECEMBER 29, 2007 ; Al
Jazeera
The commander of a pro-Taliban group in Pakistan has told news agencies by
phone that Baitullah Mehsud, another pro-Taliban figure, denies any
involvement in Benazir Bhutto's death.
Maulana Omar said on Saturday: "He [Mehsud] had no involvement in this
attack. This is a conspiracy of the government, army and intelligence
agencies."
A Pakistani official had said on Friday it had evidence that Mehsud was
responsible for the death of Bhutto, a former prime minister.
Javed Cheema, an interior ministry spokesman, said: "We have intelligence
intercepts indicating that al-Qaeda leader Baitullah Mehsud is behind her
assassination."
The claim was made as Bhutto was buried in her ancestral village in the
province of Sindh against a backdrop of continued violence, with the death
toll from disturbances rising to 31.
Cheema also said Bhutto died from injuries caused by hitting her head on her
car's sunroof as she came under fire, rather than from bullet wounds or
shrapnel.
Contrary account
Contradicting the official account, a close Bhutto aide told the media on
Saturday that she saw a bullet wound in the head when she bathed Bhutto's
body after her assassination.
"I was actually part of the party which bathed her body before the funeral,"
said Sherry Rehman, who served as Bhutto's spokeswoman and who was in the
motorcade at the time of the attack.
"There was a bullet wound I saw that went in from the back of her head and
came out the other side.
"We could not even wash her properly because the wound was still seeping.
She lost a huge amount of blood."
Rehman said: "The hospital was made to change its statement. They never gave
a proper report. ...
"This is ridiculous, dangerous nonsense because it is a cover-up of what
actually happened."
Earlier reports said Bhutto was gunned down by an assassin.
The assassin then blew himself up in an attack that killed a total of 16
people at the end of an election campaign rally in Rawalpindi on Thursday.
While pointing the finger at al-Qaeda, Cheema said Mehsud was also behind a
suicide attack on a Bhutto rally in October that left 140 dead.
Pakistani authorities say Mehsud is based in the tribal region of South
Waziristan.
'Pack of
lies'
Cheema's claim that Bhutto's death was not caused by bullet wounds but by
head injuries was described as "a pack of lies" by an aide of the slain
politician.
Farooq Naik, a senior official in Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP),
said: "Two bullets hit her, one in the abdomen and one in the head.
"It is an irreparable loss and they are turning it into a joke with such
claims. The country is heading towards civil war."
Farhatullah Babar, a another PPP spokesman, said on Saturday: "The story
that al-Qaida or Baitullah Mehsud did it appears to us to be a planted
story, an incorrect story, because they want to divert the attention."
He said Bhutto had earlier told the government of "elements" other than al-Qaida
that she thought could be a threat to her, but officials never investigated.
Kamal Hyder, Al Jazeera's Pakistan correspondent, said people were asking
why the car in which Bhutto was travelling was not damaged by the fatal
attack.
"A lot of people in Pakistan believe there may be some kind of conspiracy
behind the assassination," he said.
Questions have also been raised as to why the scene of the attack that
killed Bhutto was hosed down by the authorities soon after the blast, a move
that may have destroyed valuable evidence.
Condolences
Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistan president, called Asif Ali Zardari, Bhutto's
husband, promising to make every effort to bring the attackers to justice,
state-run Pakistan Television reported on Saturday.
And Nawaz Sharif, a former prime minister, led a 47-member delegation of
other opposition leaders to meet Bhutto's family to express condolences,
Sadiq ul-Farooq, spokesman for Sharif's party, said on Saturday.
For his part, Zardari told BBC radio that Bhutto left instructions about the
future of the PPP to be read in the event of her death, which would be made
public on Sunday.
He the couple's son would read out the message.
Zardari also revealed that Benazir had made detailed plans for her burial,
including changing the location of the plot from his family's ancestral tomb
to her family's mausoleum.
On Friday, hundreds of thousands of mourners gathered for Bhutto's funeral
in front of the mausoleum in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh, a village 5km from the
Bhutto home in the town of Naudero in Larkana district.
Supporters arrived by tractors, buses, cars and jeeps that were parked in
dusty fields surrounding the mausoleum - a vast, marble structure.
Bhutto had returned to Pakistan from Dubai in October, ending more than
eight years of self-imposed exile after reaching an understanding with
Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistan president.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
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German leader Merkel says preventing nuclear-armed Iran still of 'vital interest'
The Associated Press: December 27, 2007
BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel said heading off the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran — with tougher sanctions, if needed — remains a "vital interest" for the world community.
Iran's nuclear program is "one of our biggest security policy concerns," Merkel wrote in an editorial for the daily Handelsblatt, which the newspaper posted on its Web site Thursday, a day before publication.
Germany, along with the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, has played a leading role in addressing concerns about Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Earlier this month, an American push for new sanctions was dampened with the release of a new U.S. intelligence report concluding that Iran had halted a nuclear weapons development program in 2003 and had not resumed it since.
Merkel did not refer specifically to that assessment but wrote that "it is dangerous and still grounds for great concern that Iran, in the face of the U.N. Security Council's resolutions, continues to refuse to suspend uranium enrichment," Handelsblatt reported.
"The Iranian president's intolerable agitation
against Israel also speaks volumes," she was quoted as saying. "It remains a
vital interest of the whole world community to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran
— if necessary, with the further toughening of sanctions."
"We will continue to work with our partners, with determination and
patience, on a diplomatic solution," Merkel said.
Iran insists that its nuclear program is for purely peaceful purposes.
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Khamenei warns of 'enemy plots' ahead of Iran vote
29-12-2007
TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran's
supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday urged Iranians to be alert
against enemy plots ahead of legislative elections next March, in statements
broadcast on state television.
"The Iranian nation has to be alert" ahead of the polls, Khamenei told
visitors in remarks made on the occasion of the Eid al-Qadir feast which
commemorates the Prophet Mohammed's last sermon.
Khamenei described the March elections as a major test of wills for the
Iranian people.
"The enemy may benefit from any negligence and hurt us," he warned.
Allies of pragmatic ex-president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and his reformist
successor Mohammad Khatami are expected to team up in the March 14 elections
against hardliners loyal to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The coalition comes amid harsh criticism of Ahmadinejad's foreign policies,
including his refusal to make concessions in Iran's nuclear standoff with
the West.
Khamenei also urged unity among Muslims against so-called "enemies"
including the United States.
"Today the world arrogance wants with utmost treachery... to inject the
virus of disagreement among the different parts of the Islamic body," he
said in reference to Washington.
"Today the Islamic factions should not target one another... There should be
no disagreement" among Muslims, Khamenei said.
Eid al-Qadir is celebrated mainly by Shiites, who regard the Prophet
Mohammed's final sermon as confirmation that Imam Ali was to succeed him.