Source:  www.assistnews.net

Date:  2007-12-28

APMA chief calls for international commission to probe Bhutto's killing

By Sheraz Khurram Khan
Special Correspondent for ASSIST News Service in Pakistan

Thousands of mourners surround the ambulance bearing Benazir Bhutto to the family's ancestral village in Ghari Khuda Baksh, Larkana district (Photo: AFP)

PAKISTAN (ANS) -- The All Pakistan Minorities Alliance Chief Shahbaz Bhatti has said that the gruesome killing of Pakistan former Prime Minister and Chairperson of Pakistan Peoples Party, Ms. Benazir Bhutto, has rendered the situation for minorities' communities in the country as "hopeless."

"The killing of Ms. Bhutto has left Pakistani minorities' communities insecure," said APMA Chief Shahbaz Bhatti, who, while talking to ANS.

Ms. Bhutto was killed while she was departing from an election rally in Rawalpindi, a city near Islamabad on December 27. Initial reports suggested that she died from bullet wounds, however, the surgeon who performed external post mortem of Ms. Bhutto was quoted by the interior ministry's spokesman as saying on Friday that she died after a heavy object hit the right side of her temporal region.

In an ANS interview on Friday, December 28, the APMA Chief equated the attack on Ms. Bhutto's election rally to the attack on minorities' struggle as well as on all peace-loving, democratic and liberal forces of the country.

He said she felt the same degree of concern and pain for Pakistani minorities as he felt for them. Asked if Bhutto's killing would affect Pakistan minorities' struggle and the APMA movement, Shahbaz said he could not see any figure on political horizon that could replace Ms. Bhutto and raise minorities' voice as effectively as she had raised it.

He said he had years of association with Ms. Bhutto in which he said he had had several discussions and meetings. During these meetings, he maintained he had been apprising her of the problems confronting Pakistani minorities' communities. Replying a question, he said that Ms. Bhutto had encouraged him to form the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance, a representative body of all religious minorities of the country.

He recalled that Ms. Bhutto had sent her a bouquet and a delicious cake this Christmas. "She was an ardent supporter of religious freedom in Pakistan," he said.

He said the APMA would mourn the assassination of Ms. Bhutto for 40 days, adding that workers of the alliance would hoist black flags on their houses. To register their protest, he maintained that the APMA workers would offer prayers for Ms. Bhutto's family in their respective worship places.

Shahbaz Bhatti (right)

He insisted that formation of an international commission was necessary to "lay bare" Ms. Bhutto's killers.

He argued that if Pakistan could work with international community to curb Al-Qaeda, then why could it not seek cooperation of the international community to bring Bhutto's killers to justice.

He regretted that probe into suicide attacks on Benazir Bhutto's homecoming parade of October 18 could not uncover the elements behind the botched attempt on Bhutto's life.

Ms Bhutto had returned to Pakistan on October 18, ending her 7 year long self-imposed exile. She had staged a come back in the hopes of sealing a US-U.K brokered power-sharing deal with President Musharraf. However, instead of any development toward the deal, President Musharraf, who was then also serving as Chief of Army Staff, seized emergency powers on November 3 that only deepened the Musharraf-Bhutto stand-off. In the face of mounting international pressure President Musharraf lifted the emergency rule on December 15.

Referring to the public meeting staged by the APMA in August this year at Minar-e-Pakistan, the site where plans for creation of Pakistan were first drawn up, Mr. Shahbaz said he had presented to Ms. Bhutto the Charter of Demands that was passed on August 11, 2007 public meeting held under the aegis of APMA.

He said Ms Bhutto had assured him that she would continue to raise minorities' demands and had promised her all-out support to get all discriminatory laws, including Pakistan blasphemy laws, repealed.

Expressing his shock at Bhutto's assassination, he said he had come to believe that no political party's head including him was "safe" after Ms. Bhutto's killing.

Bhatti then revealed that he was accompanying Ms. Bhutto in the rally and had witnessed her killing from a few meters.

"Bhutto's killing is a tragedy for the people of Pakistan and especially for the down-trodden and marginalized communities of the country. I don't have any words to describe the grief and agony I am living through," he said.

Crediting Bhutto for her concern for Pakistani minorities, Bhatti said it was she who had included in Pakistan Peoples' Party manifesto, the long-standing demands of Pakistani religious minorities. The minorities' demands, he said included allocation of employment quota for minorities, minorities' representation in Senate, the upper house of Pakistan parliament, enhancement in the number of seats for minorities in the provincial and national assemblies and abolition of all discriminatory laws. She (Benazir Bhutto) made mention of the minorities' demands in recent public meetings held in the Pakistani cities of Rahim Yar Khan and Bahawalpur, said APMA chief.

"Pakistani minorities have lost a brave, courageous and a wise leader," he lamented.

"We feel we have been left alone in this country. We have lost a great supporter of minorities' cause and a great politician," he added.

Condemning killing of Ms. Bhutto he said, APMA believed in "peaceful protests and it would lodge its protest against the tragic incident through all peaceful and democratic means."

The Zonal Coordinator of APMA, Tahir Naveed Chaudhry, told ANS that Pakistani minorities had been deprived of a liberal leader who was supportive of equal rights for Pakistani minorities. He termed Ms. Bhutto's killing a set back to the momentum and to the struggle Pakistani minorities had been waging from the APMA platform. Hailing Ms Bhutto he said, "She was an effective voice for Pakistani minorities at home and abroad."

Chaudhry, who was also present at Ms. Bhutto's election rally described the killing of Ms Bhutto as a "huge loss" to Pakistani minorities' communities.

"All of us had been on empty stomach and had decided to eat after conclusion of the meeting. As we were planning to leave we heard a blast that triggered a stampede. When we knew what had happened none of us felt like eating," he said.

The Pakistan Peoples Party, he said is "pro-people and pro-poor" and "no force can ever crush the party." Like workers of Pakistan Peoples Party, he maintained, Pakistani minorities have been rendered orphans.

Our Correspondent adds:

The killing of Ms. Bhutto is indeed a tragic blow to Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) but perhaps it is even a greater set back to Pakistani religious minorities, including Christians, most of whom have always voted for the party as they trust that only the Pakistan Peoples Party to help them achieve equal rights for which they have been clamoring since creation of Pakistan.

Even though Pakistan two-time former Prime Minister has been laid to rest today (Friday), angry Bhutto supporters continue to vent their spleen by burning shops, police stations and buses in the major cities of the country including Rawalpindi.

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has not ruled out imposition of curfew if need be. He has also reportedly said that troops may also be called in to restore law and order.

Pakistan Peoples Party's central executive committee is going to meet tomorrow and is likely to take some important decisions. Given Benazir's stature it is of course not easy for the party to decide as to who will replace her. Many in Pakistan believe that Bhutto lovers would not accept anyone outside from Bhutto's family as party's chairperson.

In the wake Ms. Bhutto's killing some speculate that it would delay the parliamentary elections scheduled on January 8.

Despite the fact that Pakistani Christians are pro-PPP, there have been no reports of attacks on Churches or Christians' properties so far. The Islamists may launch attacks on Pakistani Churches in a bid to divert world attention from the killing of Ms. Bhutto.

Government critics have said that Bhutto's killing could have been averted if adequate security measures had been put into place.