The Hindu : Front Page : Benazir survives Karachi carnage

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Saturday, Oct 20, 2007
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Front Page

Benazir survives Karachi carnage

Nirupama Subramanian

140 killed, hundreds injured in two blasts; Benazir suspects “three individuals” of conspiring against her

Benazir won’t blame government at this stage
We will not stop our campaign, we will not stop our struggle ... we will not be deterred, she says

— Photos: AP, AFP

Shell-shocked: The former Pakistan Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, being escorted out of a bullet-proof vehicle after two huge bomb explosions shattered her convoy in Karachi around midnight on Thursday. At right, the injured and the dead lie scattered at the scene of the catastrophe.

KARACHI: Pakistan People’s Party leader Benazir Bhutto, who narrowly escaped an attempt on her life hours after she returned home from a self-imposed exile, said on Friday it was not an attack on her, but on the promise of democracy and empowerment that she represented. The suspected suicide attack killed at least 140 people and left several hundreds injured (agencies put the number of the injured at over 500) in a mammoth welcome procession.

“I will stay on”

Ms. Bhutto said though she received information that she would continue to be targeted, she was determined to stay on in Pakistan. She asserted that the attacks would not deter her or her party from its mission.

“I and my colleagues want to save Pakistan, we want to bring democracy to Pakistan. We will not stop our campaign, we will not stop our struggle. In spite of our great loss yesterday [Thursday], we will not be deterred,” the former Prime Minister said at a press conference.

The gruesome attack took place shortly after midnight on Thursday night on the main road from the airport here. Hundreds of thousands of PPP supporters were leading Ms. Bhutto in the slow procession to the mausoleum of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Pakistan’s founder, where she was to address a public gathering.

The impact of two blasts in quick succession on the left side of a modified container truck, in which she was travelling, was powerful enough to cause some damage to the bullet-proof vehicle.

Shortly before the attack, the PPP leader went into the vehicle, getting down from the roof, where she had stood for hours waving to her supporters.

The injured and the dead lie scattered at the scene of the catastrophe.

After the blasts, PPP workers bundled Ms. Bhutto into her car that took her to Bilawal House, her Clifton home, cutting short her triumphant procession.

Ms. Bhutto told the press conference that both blasts were suicide attacks.

“The attack was more than an attack on an individual. The attack was not on me, it was on what I represent. It was an attack on the unity and integrity of Pakistan, because the PPP is a federal party. It was an attack on democracy because it attacked the empowerment of people, who want to escape from vested interests and hope for the opportunity of a better life. It was an attack on all democratic political parties,” she said.

But while PPP activists and leaders blamed President Pervez Musharraf as being directly or indirectly responsible for the attacks, Ms. Bhutto, who returned home after an agreement with the General, was more restrained.

She said she would not blame the government “at this stage.” But she said she suspected three individuals, either in government or with a previous association to it, of conspiring against her. She refused to name them.