The Hindu : Front Page : World condemns Benazir assassination

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 28, 2007
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World condemns Benazir assassination

Leaders laud her bravery and commitment to democratic reform

— PHOTO: THE HINDU ARCHIVES

A young Benazir watches as her father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Indira Gandhi meet in Shimla in June 1972.

From Moscow to Washington to New Delhi and points in between, dismay and condemnation poured forth on Thursday over the assassination of Pakistan’s opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, along with concern for the stability of the volatile region. World leaders lauded her bravery and commitment to democratic reform.

Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai, who met Ms Bhutto earlier on Thursday in Islamabad, said he was “deeply pained” by the assassination of “this brave sister of ours, a brave daughter of the Muslim world”.

“She sacrificed her life for the sake of Pakistan and for the sake of this region,” he said. “I found in her this morning a lot of love and desire for peace in Afghanistan, for prosperity in Afghanistan and... Pakistan.”

In a letter to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, French President Nicolas Sarkozy called the attack an “odious act” and said “terrorism and violence have no place in the democratic debate and the combat of ideas and programmes.”

United States President George Bush demanded that the killers be brought to justice.

“The United States strongly condemns this cowardly act by murderous extremists who are trying to undermine Pakistan’s democracy,” he said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice and for “all Pakistanis to work together for peace and national unity.”

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Pope Benedict XVI was immediately informed of the “terrible news.”

“One cannot see signs of peace in this tormented region,” Rev. Lombardi said.

In Britain, where Ms. Bhutto had attended Oxford University, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said she “risked everything in her attempt to win democracy in Pakistan and she has been assassinated by cowards who are afraid of democracy.”

“The terrorists must not be allowed to kill democracy in Pakistan, and this atrocity strengthens our resolve that the terrorists will not win there, here, or anywhere in the world”.

Italian Premier Romano Prodi said he was filled with grief and called Ms. Bhutto “a woman who chose to fight her battle until the end with a single weapon — the one of dialogue and political debate.”

“The difficult path toward peace and democracy in that region must not be stopped, and Ms. Bhutto’s sacrifice will serve as the strongest example for those who do not surrender to terrorism,” Mr. Prodi said.

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, during a speech south of Santiago, paid “sincere tribute to a woman... who fought her entire life for a better Pakistan.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the “cowardly terrorist attack ... also targets the stability and democratic process of Pakistan.”

In Moscow, Anatoly Safonov, Russian President Vladmir Putin’s envoy on international cooperation against terrorism, expressed fears the assassination would trigger violent repercussions. “The already unstable situation in Pakistan will be further exacerbated by this powerful factor,” Safonov said, according to the Interfax news agency.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin condemned the attack, the RIA-Novosti news agency reported.

“We hope that the leadership of Pakistan will succeed in taking all measures for guaranteeing security in the country,” Mr. Kamynin said. — AP

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