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(RESEND) Benazir Bhutto Assassination - 12/28 news roundup
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
[...And then the post got stuck because of huge photos (now removed).
Sorry]
Resend from Fri, 28 Dec 2007 15:00:12 -0500
[Sorry this is late -- we took a day off and it was the day Benazir got
offed and a Sharif rally was also attacked. Several reports follow
from mart and Ed Pearl. Some of the most savvy analysis is likely to
come from China Hand, who's been following Pakistan closely. See
his blog at http://chinamatters.blogspot.com/
"Democratic Pakistan
Stares Into the Abyss" - NY Transfer]
sent by mart
Breaking News! - Benazir
Bhutto Assassinated.
============================
BBC News - Dec. 27, 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7161590.stm
Bhutto 'killed in blast'
Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has been
killed in a presumed suicide attack, a
military spokesman has announced on TV.
Earlier reports said Ms Bhutto had only
been injured and taken to hospital.
Ms Bhutto had just addressed a pre-election
rally in the town of Rawalpindi when the
bomb went off.
At least 15 other people are reported killed
in the attack and several more were injured.
Ms Bhutto had twice been the country's
prime minister.
She was campaigning ahead of elections
due in January.
'She expired'
The explosion occurred close to an entrance
gate of the park in Rawalpindi where Ms
Bhutto had been speaking.
PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar initially
said that Ms Bhutto was safe. But later he
told the BBC that Ms Bhutto had died.
Another member of the PPP, Wasif Ali Khan,
told the Associated Press news agency from
the Rawalpindi General Hospital: "At 6:16
pm (1316 GMT) she expired."
Ms Bhutto returned from self-imposed exile
in October after years out of Pakistan where
she had faced corruption charges.
Her return was the result of a power-sharing
agreement with President Musharraf in which
he granted an amnesty that covered the court
cases she was facing.
Since her return relations with Mr Musharraf
have broken down.
On the day of her return she led a motor
cavalcade through the city of Karachi. It
was hit by a double suicide attack that
left some 130 dead.
The PPP has the largest support in the
country.
Earlier on Thursday at least four people
were killed ahead of an election rally that
Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz
Sharif was preparing to attend close to
Rawalpindi.
- ---------------------------------
Photos:
1) Benazir Bhutto had been addressing
rallies in many parts of Pakistan
2) Scene from the blast
The blast caused carnage at the rally
***
(Times of India) News Video: Bhutto
Assassinated
via The Times of India - Broadband
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Dec. 27, 2007
Video: Benazir Bhutto assasinated.
Click here to view :
http://tinyurl.com/2mwqlm
***
sent by Ed Pearl
I can't vouch for all details or assertions in this analysis,
but the implications noted are dire and very persuasive. It's
the only message on the subject I've received which provides
more than bare-bones reportage of the assasination. At the
very least it can be weighed against what you'll read and hear
tomorrow in much of our media. Democracy Now is sure to
assemble a decent panel tomorrow. -Ed
----- Original Message -----
From: <aaron@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> (Red Green list)
Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2007 6:54 AM
Subject: [R-G] Pakistan: The assassination of Benazir Bhutto
Pakistan: The assassination of Benazir Bhutto
By Alan Woods
Thursday, 27 December 2007
Benazir Bhutto has been killed in a suicide bomb attack.
The leader of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) had just addressed a
rally of PPP supporters in the town of Rawalpindi when the attack took
place. First reports talked of at least 100 killed in the attack, but
more recent news put the figure at 15.
This murderous onslaught on the PPP came in the middle of an election
campaign where, after years of military dictatorship, the masses were
striving for a change. There was a wave of support for the PPP, which
was sure to win National and provincial assembly elections that were
due to be held on 8 January 2008.
The campaign was gathering strength, and the PPP Marxist wing was
getting enthusiastic support for its revolutionary socialist message in
places as far apart as Karachi and the tribal areas of Waziristan in
the far north. These elections would have reflected a big shift to the
left in Pakistan. This prospect was causing alarm in the ruling clique.
That is what was behind today's atrocity.
This was a crime against the workers and peasants of Pakistan, a bloody
provocation intended to cancel the elections that the PPP was sure to
win and to provide the excuse for a new clampdown and the possible
reintroduction of martial law and dictatorship. It is a
counterrevolutionary act that must be condemned without reservation.
Who was responsible? The identity of the murderers is not yet known. But
when I asked the comrades in Karachi, the reply was immediate: "it was
the mullahs". The dark forces of counterrevolution in countries like
Pakistan habitually dress up in the garb of Islamic fundamentalism.
There are even rumours in circulation that Benazir was shot from a
mosque, although the western media insist that the murder was the
result of a suicide bomber.
Whatever the technical details of the assassination, and whoever was the
direct agent of this criminal act, the threads of the conspiracy
undoubtedly reach high up. The so-called Islamic fundamentalists and
jihadis are only the puppets and hired assassins of reactionary forces
that ere entrenched in the Pakistani ruling class and the state
apparatus, lavishly funded by the Pakistan Intelligence Services (ISI),
drug barons with connections with the Taliban, and the Saudi regime,
always anxious to support and finance any counterrevolutionary activity
in the world.
The war in Afghanistan is having a ruinous effect on Pakistan. The
Pakistan ruling class had ambitions of dominating the country after the
expulsion of the Russians. The Pakistan army and ISI have been meddling
there for decades. They are still mixed up with the Taliban and the
drug barons (which is the same thing). Huge fortunes are made from the
drugs trade that is poisoning Pakistan and destabilizing its economy,
society and politics.
The assassination of Benazir Bhutto is just another expression of the
sheer rottenness, degeneration and corruption that is gnawing at the
vitals of Pakistan. The misery of the masses, the poverty, the
injustices, cry out for a solution. The landlords and capitalists have
no solution to this. The workers and peasants looked to the PPP for a
way out.
Some so-called "lefts" will say: But Benazir's programme could not have
provided the way out. The Marxists in the PPP are fighting for the
programme of socialism - for the original programme of the PPP. But the
masses can only learn which programme and policies are correct through
their own experience.
The January elections would have give the masses an opportunity to
advance at least one step in the right direction, by inflicting a
decisive defeat on the forces of reaction and dictatorship. Then they
would have had the possibility of learning about programmes and
policies, not in theory but in practice.
Now it seems most likely that they will be denied this opportunity. The
purpose of this criminal provocation is quite clear: to cancel the
elections. I have not yet seen the response of the Pakistan
authorities, but it would be unthinkable that the elections could now
take place on 8 January. They will be at least postponed for some time.
What effect will this have upon the masses? I have just spoken on the
phone to the comrades of The Struggle in Karachi, where they have been
battling the reactionary thugs of the MQM in a fierce election
campaign. They tell me that there is a general feeling of shock among
the masses. "People are weeping and women are wailing in their houses:
I can hear them now," the comrade said.
But the shock is already turning into anger: "There is rioting in the
streets of Karachi and other cities. People are blocking the roads and
burning tires." That is a warning to the ruling class that the
patience of the masses is now exhausted. The movement of the masses
cannot be halted by the assassination of one leaser - or by a thousand.
The masses always adhere to their traditional mass organizations. The
PPP developed in the heat of the revolutionary movement of 1968-9, when
the workers and peasants came close to taking power.
The dictator Zia murdered Benazir's father. That did not prevent the
resurrection of the PPP in the 1980s. The forces of state terrorism
murdered Benazir's brother, Murtazar. Then they exiled Benazir and
installed a new dictatorship. That did not prevent the PPP from
experiencing a new resurrection when 2-3 million people came onto the
streets to welcome her back.
The masses will recover from the momentary shock and grief. These
emotions will be replaced in time by anger and the desire for revenge.
But what is needed is not individual revenge, but collective revenge.
What is needed is to prepare the masses for a new revolutionary
offensive that will tackle the problems of Pakistan by the roots.
The ruling clique may delay the date of the elections, but sooner or
later they will have to be called. The reactionaries calculate that the
removal of Benazir will weaken the PPP. That is a serious
miscalculation! The PPP cannot be reduced to a single individual. If
that were true. It would have disappeared after the judicial murder of
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
The PPP is not one individual, It is the organized expression of the
will of the masses to change society. It is the three million who came
on the streets to greet Benazir's return. It is the tens of millions
more who were preparing to vote for a change in the January elections.
These millions are now mourning. But they will not mourn forever. They
will find effective ways of struggle to make their voice heard.
The masses must protest the murder of the PPP leader through a national
protest movement: mass rallies, strikes, protest demonstrations,
culminating in a general strike. They must raise the banner of
democracy. Against dictatorship! No more martial law! Call new
elections immediately!
The PPP leadership must not capitulate to any pressure to delay the
elections. Call the national and provisional elections! Let the people's
voice be heard! Above all, the PPP must return its original programme
and principles.
In the PPP's founding programme is inscribed the aim of the socialist
transformation of society. It includes the nationalization of the land,
banks and industries under workers control, the replacement of the
standing army by a workers and peasants militia. These ideas are as
correct and relevant today as when they were first written!
There is nothing easier than to take the life of a man or a woman. We
humans
are frail creatures and easily killed. But you cannot murder an idea
whose
time has come!
***
sent by mart
Zee News - Pakistan
www.zeenews.com
Dec. 27. 2007
http://tinyurl.com/3xtomf
Nawaz Sharif`s rally attacked,
5 killed
ZeeNews Bureau - Islamabad, Dec 27:
Four people were shot dead and several
injured at an election campaign rally of
former Pakistan PM, Nawaz Sharif in
Rawalapindi on Thursday, police
officials said.
Sharif`s cavalcade was attacked by
unidentified gunmen who opened fire at it.
Sharif has directly blamed Pervez Musharraf
for the attack citing that the current situation
of Pakistan was all thanks to the President.
He futher added by saying that being the
head of the state, Musharraf was solely
respomsible for the security of the citizens.
According to the reports, Sharif has accused
certain leaders of PML-Q, charging them of
being the catalyst behind the attack, as they
were wary of his on growing popularity
amongst the people.
A high alert has been sounded in Islamabad
following the firing. This episode is
subsequent to the attacks carried in October
on Benazir Bhutto's parade celebrating her
return where some suicide bombers had
carried attacks killing more than 140 people
in the southern city of Karachi.
Terror threat in Pak
An intelligence report has suggested that
terrorists may strike in the city and target
top politicians and religious leaders.
Following this, the security agencies in
Islamabad have been put on high alert.
According to the police officials the city
administration had been warned by the
Interior Ministry earlier about the
impending suicide attacks in Islamabad.
A letter issued by the Interior Ministry`s
had mentioned the looming attacks that
might be a possibility keeping in mind the
current situation of the country.
Security had been tightened in and around
the capital and the high alert would stay in
force till the January 8 general election,
according to the police officials.
All the top politicians have been provided
with high grade security, including Pakistan
People`s Party (PPP) chairperson and former
PM Banazir Bhutto, and other religious
leaders who faced threats. Intelligence
agencies have been asked to keep an eye on
suspicious people and send reports to the
city administration.
The intelligence report said that a hit list
had been prepared by Mehsud, who was
recently named chief of newly formed Tehrik
Taliban-e-Pakistan, contained the names of
10 individuals. The sources also said that
certain militants had been given the task of
targeting persons on the hit list.
The hit list reportedly includes most of the
high profile names like that of - PPP leader
Ibn-i-Ali; his son, Additional Sessions Judge
Ehtisham Ali; former provincial assembly
member Qalb-i-Hassan; and Fazal Abbas, the
Pir of Kalaya. The list also includes the
caretakers of three Shia `Imambargahs` in
Kohat.
*
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