I know who did it: Benazir

She blames ‘certain section’ of Pak establishment for suicide attack that killed more than 130

ISLAMABAD: PPP leader Benazir Bhutto claimed on Friday that a certain section of the Pakistani establishment was behind the attempt to assassinate her. On Thursday night, more than 130 people were killed when a suicide bomber exploded a grenade and then blew himself up in the crowd that had gathered in Karachi to witness her homecoming after eight years in exile.  
 
Speaking in English, aimed at a world-wide audience, Benazir said at a press conference in Karachi, that she had named three persons, in a confidential letter to President Pervez Musharraf on October 16, as being senior military and intelligence officials planning to assassinate her upon her return home on October 18. She wanted appropriate measures to be taken. She refused to name the officials saying she expected General Musharraf to proceed against them.

“The information about possible suicide attacks was first passed on to me from a friendly Muslim country. They told me that some al-Qaeda and Taliban linked elements could try to kill me upon my return home.

However, in the confidential letter I wrote to Musharraf I had made it clear that I won’t blame Taliban or al-Qaeda if I am attacked. I know quite well who my enemies are in the Pakistani military and intelligence establishment.

As I was about to fly back home, I had received another serious warning from a former ISI director general — through a senior Pakistani journalist — that a suicide bomber would target my procession in Karachi,” said Bhutto, adding that she had passed on this information to the highest government authorities, but to no avail.

Benazir’s case against the jihadi elements within the establishment has been strengthened by the denial issued by Baitullah Mehsud, the Taliban commander based in the tribal areas of Pakistan. Mehsud has said that his men played no role in the attack. Turn to back page,

Bhutto made some dramatic revelations about the assassination attempt. “The truck carrying the entire PPP hierarchy was targeted by a suicide bomber, and it was also fired upon three times seconds after the blast. The bullet holes can be seen in the windscreen of the destroyed vehicle,” she said.

Half an hour before the attack her personal guards had picked up a man carrying a loaded pistol and wearing a suicide belt. Bhutto pointed out that all the street lights on the main city thoroughfare, which was packed with people, mysteriously were not turned on after sunset. This made it impossible for the security agencies to identify and intercept the suicide bomber.

“The message being given is that the only people safe in Pakistan are the militants. But we won’t be intimidated and we won’t stop our struggle to bring back true democracy by empowering the people of Pakistan and we won’t let the extremist militants and their handlers destroy Jinnah’s Pakistan,” said Bhutto.

In a related development, Asif Zardari, Bhutto’s husband, has blamed intelligence agencies for the suicide bombing. Talking live to Geo television on Friday morning from Dubai, Zardari said he did not think that extremist elements within the government, including some ministers, were responsible for the blasts.

“Had jihadis been the suicide bombers, they should have attacked government officials and not the opposition.”  He demanded that Musharraf should sack the Director General of the Intelligence Bureau Brig (retd) Ejaz Hussain Shah, who has previously served as the chief of the Punjab wing of the Inter Services Intelligence and is suspected to be involved in the bid on Bhutto’s life.