By IANS
Colombo : Slain former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto “successfully stood up for democracy”, the Sri Lankan government has said describing her assassination as “brutal”.
A late night official statement Thursday, hours after she was killed, said the “ugly head of terrorism” had raised itself once again in claiming Bhutto’s life.
“This brutal assassination underlines the need for an absolute commitment to fight terrorism in all its forms and manifestations in order to make it unacceptable in civilized society,” it said.
In an interview to the BBC’s Sinhalese language service, Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said that Sri Lanka would extend support to Pakistan in its efforts to eradicate terrorism.
Former president Chandrika Kumaratunga described Bhutto as a “symbol of democracy and secularism”.
“Bhutto was eliminated from the political scene by those who always benefit from war, racism, arms deals, and those who wish to rule by military power,” she said.
“May this not happen to anyone else in other countries of the region.”
A victim of terrorism herself, Kumaratunga had escaped in a Tamil Tiger suicide bomb attack within yards of her car at an election rally in Colombo in 1999. But she lost one eye.
Opposition United National Party (UNP) leader and former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said that the assassination of Bhutto was a “blow to the whole of Asia”.
Former foreign and national heritage minister Anura Bandaranaike, who was a personal friend of Bhutto’s and had hosted her during her last visit to Sri Lanka, blamed Pakistani President Pervez Musharaff for the assassination.
“It (the assassination) points directly at the hands of the president,” Bandaranaike told the BBC Sinhalese service.
He said he knew Bhutto personally as a person who was “courageous, determined and charismatic”.