Civil war feared as angry mob demands head of Pervez Musharraf

 

Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto speaks during an election rally in Rawalpindi shortly before she was assassinated, December 27, 2007.

The Times | Dec 28, 2007

by Zahid Hussain in Islamabad

Within hours of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, angry mobs took to the streets, attacking police patrols and government buildings.

Amid fears of a full-blown civil war, four people were reported killed in Karachi, the southern port city, where thousands of protesters fired shots, blocked roads with burning cars and torched government buildings. Two people were shot dead in the eastern city of Lahore and four people were reported killed in smaller towns in the eastern province of Sindh, Ms Bhutto’s stronghold. A mobset fire to a train in Hyderabad, in Sindh, and police fired teargas into crowds in Peshawar, in Pakistan’s volatile northwest.

The mood in Ms Bhutto’s home town of Larkana, Sindh, was tense. Crowds set two banks on fire. In the central city of Multan some protesters fired shots into the air and many shouted slogans, including “Long live Bhutto” and “Musharraf is a dog”, in reference to the President.

Paramilitary forces were put on red alert and told to clamp down on violent protest. “There is trouble almost everywhere,” a police official said.

Hundreds of Ms Bhutto’s supporters had gathered outside the hospital in Rawalpindi where she was taken. On hearing of her death, some just wept but many turned violent, smashing the glass door at the entrance of the emergency unit and throwing stones at cars. They clashed with the police, shouting: “Killer, killer, Musharraf”.

Leaders of Ms Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party fanned the flames by accusing the Government of a fatal security lapse. “We repeatedly informed the Government to provide her proper security and appropriate equipment including jammers, but they paid no heed to our requests,” said Rehmani Malik, a party spokesman.

Supporters mourn outside the hospital where the body of Pakistan’s former prime minister and opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was brought to, in Rawalpindi city, December 27, 2007.

Ms Bhutto had been the target of a twin suicide attack in Karachi in October but decided to continue campaigning for January’s elections. More than 140 people were killed in that attack.

In her last address Ms Bhutto, who was tipped strongly to become prime minister, called on Pakistanis to fight Islamic militancy, which she described as the biggest threat to the country’s security. Her pro-Western views had made her a target of Islamic militants, who had gained strength, particularly in the northwest. Baitullah Mehsud, a pro-al-Qaeda leader operating from the lawless Waziristan region, had threatened her with suicide attacks.

Blaming terrorists for Ms Bhutto’s death, President Musharraf vowed to redouble his efforts to fight them. “This is the work of those terrorists with whom we are engaged in war,” he said in a nationally televised speech.

“I have been saying that the nation faces the greatest threats from these terrorists. Today, after this tragic incident, I want to express my firm resolve. I express my resolve that – and I also seek solidarity from the nation and cooperation and help – we will not rest until we eliminate these terrorists and root them out.”

The President announced three days of mourning, during which the flag would fly at half-mast, and called for calm: “I want to appeal to the nation to remain peaceful and exercise restraint.”