Kerala Feeds: [Keralites] Bhutto Party accuses govt

Sunday, December 30, 2007

[Keralites] Bhutto Party accuses govt

Bhutto party accuses govt

Ghinwa Bhutto, sister-in-law of Benazir Bhutto, comforting crying party workers as Bhutto's niece, Fatima (right), sobs at Bhutto's ancestral mausoleum in Garhi Khuda Baksh yesterday
ISLAMABAD: Benazir Bhutto's party challenged the Pakistani government's version of the opposition leader's assassination as fresh violence yesterday stoked fears that January 8 elections could be put off.

Al Qaeda-linked militants denied being behind the killing of the 54-year-old former prime minister although the government of nuclear-armed Pakistan, a key US ally in fighting terrorism, had said on Friday it had proof of their involvement.
Bhutto's party dismissed the government account, saying there was no hard evidence and President Pervez Musharraf's embattled administration was trying to cover up its failure to protect her.
In renewed violence, three Bhutto supporters were shot dead. The death toll stood at 44 since her assassination in a gun and bomb attack on Thursday.
A close aide who prepared Bhutto's body for burial dismissed as "ludicrous" a government theory that she died after hitting her head on a sunroof during the suicide attack.
Sherry Rehman, a spokeswoman for Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP), said Bhutto was shot in the head. But the government stuck to its version, saying Bhutto's party was welcome to exhume her corpse to check.
Pakistanis remained on edge yesterday after protesters torched shops, lorries, welfare centres and ambulances overnight. She was laid to rest on Friday.
Late on Friday, interior ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema told a news conference: "We have intelligence intercepts indicating that Al Qaeda leader Baitullah Mehsud is behind (Bhutto's) assassination."
However, a spokesman for Mehsud denied the claim.
"I strongly deny it. Tribal people have their own customs.
We don't strike women," Maulvi Omar said by telephone from an undisclosed location.
A PPP spokesman said the government must show hard evidence.
"The government is nervous," he said. "They are trying to cover up their failure" to provide adequate security. – Reuters

By MUNEER CK DOHA

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