The Hindu : Front Page : ‘Benazir may have been shot dead’

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Monday, Jan 07, 2008
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Front Page

‘Benazir may have been shot dead’

She was responsible for her death: Musharraf

WASHINGTON: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has conceded for the first time that a gunman may have shot the former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, media reports said on Sunday.

However, General (retd.) Musharraf insisted that she was responsible for her death as she exposed herself to danger despite being given “more security than any other person.”

Gen. Musharraf, whose comments came days after the government claimed Benazir died of a skull fracture and not from a gunshot wound, is facing intense criticism over the administration’s explanation of the killing of the Opposition leader.

“For standing up outside the car, I think it was she to blame alone. Nobody else. Responsibility is hers,” Gen. Musharraf told CBS in an interview.

The 54-year-old Benazir was killed on December 27 in Rawalpindi, near the capital Islamabad, while standing up in her bullet-proof car through the sunroof to wave to her supporters. A suicide-bomber also blew himself up near her car. The government initially said she died as she hit her head on the lever of the car’s sunroof.

This version was widely criticised, especially after a video footage was broadcast on TV channels showing a man pointing a gun towards Benazir. Asked if he believed a gunshot could have caused her head injury, Gen. Musharraf replied, “Yes, yes,” according to the partial transcript of the interview, which is yet to be broadcast.

When the questioner asked again, “So, she may have been shot,” he said, “Yes, absolutely, yes. Possibility.”

Gen. Musharraf also maintained that the government did everything possible to give Benazir the security she needed. “You have to remember she had the threat. So she was given more security than any other person.”

“Need for U.N. probe”

His admission that Benazir might have been shot dead has reinforced the need for an independent United Nations-led investigation into her assassination, her Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) said.

Party spokesman Farhatullah Babar told PTI: “The government has been constantly changing its stand and that has given rise to doubts and suspicions.

“This also reinforces our demand for an independent United Nations-led inquiry into Mohtarma [Benazir] Bhutto’s assassination on the lines of the probe into the murder of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.”

Pakistan reacted angrily to reports that U.S. President George W. Bush was considering covert military operations in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

“It is not up to the U.S. administration, it is Pakistan’s government which is responsible for this country,” chief military spokesman Waheed Arshad said. The New York Times reported that in the wake of Benazir’s killing the White House was planning to approve such military operations. — Agencies

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