Post by Rose on Dec 27, 2007 12:43:01 GMT -5
Greetings all,
Benazir Bhutto, 54, Pakistani Prime Minister (1988–1990, 1993–1996), was assassinated today, Dec 27, 2007...see below
(anyone know of a birthtime?)
Mars retrograde and Pluto will oppose on Jan 2, 2008...this aspect is already active...
....
here are mixed reports regarding whether Bhutto was directly killed by the bomb or by gunfire shortly before the explosion.
At least 22 other people were killed in the suicide blast.
Bhutto's security adviser, Rehman Malik, said the leader was shot in the neck and chest by the attacker, who then detonated his explosive.
Party supporter Chaudry Mohammed Nazir said two gunshots were fired on Bhutto's vehicle as it left the rally and then a big blast occurred.
Wasif Ali Khan, a member of Bhutto's party, said "at 6:16 p.m. she expired.''
Khan made the comments from Rawalpindi General Hospital, where Bhutto was transported.
CNN producer Sayed Moshin Naqvi, reporting from the hospital, said doctors have not confirmed her cause of death. Naqvi said Bhutto had been travelling in an SUV.
"After that, according to police... one suicide bomber attacked her in the Jeep in which she was sitting," Naqvi told CNN.
U.S. President Bush condemned the attack Thursday and he is expected to make a statement later this morning.
"We condemn the acts of violence which took place today in Pakistan," White House spokesman Scott Stanzel told reporters.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf condemned the attack and appealed for calm. He has called a high-level emergency meeting to discuss the government's response.
Meanwhile, terrorism expert Eric Margolis, who was friends with Bhutto, told CTV Newsnet on Thursday that her death will throw her party's future into turmoil.
"Bhutto's party which was the largest party in Pakistan -- the People's Party -- has now been decapitated," said Margolis.
"She dominated the party. She was the party. It was a very personalized party. She does not really have a strong number two."
Background on Bhutto
Bhutto's father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, served as a president and prime minister of Pakistan in the 1970s. He founded the Pakistan People's Party and is credited as being the father of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program.
Bhutto lost power in a 1977 coup to Gen. Zia Ul-Haq, then the chief of the army staff whom Bhutto had appointed. Bhutto was executed in 1979 for allegedly ordering the murder of a political opponent. Observers criticized his trial as a very shoddy affair.
Benazir spent most of the next five years in prison. She left for London in 1984. Her brother Shahnawaz was found dead in his French Riviera apartment in 1985.
In 1986, Benazir Bhutto, educated at Harvard and Oxford, returned to Pakistan. Two years later, Zia died in a mysterious plane crash. Bhutto's party won a majority in parliamentary elections that November, and she became prime minister at age 35.
By 1990, President Gulam Ishaq Khan had dismissed her government on charges of corruption -- charges Bhutto denied.
Khan replaced her with Nawaz Sharif -- a protégé of Zia.
Three years later, Bhutto won the prime ministership once again.
In this period, she would support the Taliban of Afghanistan.
Her government would be dismissed again on corruption allegations in 1996. That same year, her brother Murtaza, also politically active, was shot to death under murky circumstances.
Facing corruption charges she claimed were politically motivated, Bhutto left Pakistan in 1999, the same year Musharraf deposed Sharif. Musharraf wouldn't assume the presidency until 2001.
Through political wrangling, he had his 1999 coup retroactively legitimized.
Bhutto returned to Pakistan from exile in October and was campaigning ahead of elections, scheduled for January.
At the rally celebrating her return last October, more than 140 people were killed in another suicide blast. Bhutto was not hurt and remained defiant despite the threats on her life.
"We have to modify our campaign to some extent because of the suicide bombings. We will continue to meet the public. We will not be deterred," she said in October.
Benazir Bhutto, 54, Pakistani Prime Minister (1988–1990, 1993–1996), was assassinated today, Dec 27, 2007...see below
(anyone know of a birthtime?)
Mars retrograde and Pluto will oppose on Jan 2, 2008...this aspect is already active...
....
here are mixed reports regarding whether Bhutto was directly killed by the bomb or by gunfire shortly before the explosion.
At least 22 other people were killed in the suicide blast.
Bhutto's security adviser, Rehman Malik, said the leader was shot in the neck and chest by the attacker, who then detonated his explosive.
Party supporter Chaudry Mohammed Nazir said two gunshots were fired on Bhutto's vehicle as it left the rally and then a big blast occurred.
Wasif Ali Khan, a member of Bhutto's party, said "at 6:16 p.m. she expired.''
Khan made the comments from Rawalpindi General Hospital, where Bhutto was transported.
CNN producer Sayed Moshin Naqvi, reporting from the hospital, said doctors have not confirmed her cause of death. Naqvi said Bhutto had been travelling in an SUV.
"After that, according to police... one suicide bomber attacked her in the Jeep in which she was sitting," Naqvi told CNN.
U.S. President Bush condemned the attack Thursday and he is expected to make a statement later this morning.
"We condemn the acts of violence which took place today in Pakistan," White House spokesman Scott Stanzel told reporters.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf condemned the attack and appealed for calm. He has called a high-level emergency meeting to discuss the government's response.
Meanwhile, terrorism expert Eric Margolis, who was friends with Bhutto, told CTV Newsnet on Thursday that her death will throw her party's future into turmoil.
"Bhutto's party which was the largest party in Pakistan -- the People's Party -- has now been decapitated," said Margolis.
"She dominated the party. She was the party. It was a very personalized party. She does not really have a strong number two."
Background on Bhutto
Bhutto's father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, served as a president and prime minister of Pakistan in the 1970s. He founded the Pakistan People's Party and is credited as being the father of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program.
Bhutto lost power in a 1977 coup to Gen. Zia Ul-Haq, then the chief of the army staff whom Bhutto had appointed. Bhutto was executed in 1979 for allegedly ordering the murder of a political opponent. Observers criticized his trial as a very shoddy affair.
Benazir spent most of the next five years in prison. She left for London in 1984. Her brother Shahnawaz was found dead in his French Riviera apartment in 1985.
In 1986, Benazir Bhutto, educated at Harvard and Oxford, returned to Pakistan. Two years later, Zia died in a mysterious plane crash. Bhutto's party won a majority in parliamentary elections that November, and she became prime minister at age 35.
By 1990, President Gulam Ishaq Khan had dismissed her government on charges of corruption -- charges Bhutto denied.
Khan replaced her with Nawaz Sharif -- a protégé of Zia.
Three years later, Bhutto won the prime ministership once again.
In this period, she would support the Taliban of Afghanistan.
Her government would be dismissed again on corruption allegations in 1996. That same year, her brother Murtaza, also politically active, was shot to death under murky circumstances.
Facing corruption charges she claimed were politically motivated, Bhutto left Pakistan in 1999, the same year Musharraf deposed Sharif. Musharraf wouldn't assume the presidency until 2001.
Through political wrangling, he had his 1999 coup retroactively legitimized.
Bhutto returned to Pakistan from exile in October and was campaigning ahead of elections, scheduled for January.
At the rally celebrating her return last October, more than 140 people were killed in another suicide blast. Bhutto was not hurt and remained defiant despite the threats on her life.
"We have to modify our campaign to some extent because of the suicide bombings. We will continue to meet the public. We will not be deterred," she said in October.