By IANS
Dhaka : Security in diplomatic enclave and strategic installations in Bangladesh was beefed up Friday following the assassination of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto Thursday, as the caretaker government here strongly condemned the killing.
The government called Bhutto’s murder “a tragedy of gargantuan proportions”, as analysts feared that this could “embolden” militants across South Asia.
“For the sake of South Asia, Pakistan will have to ensure that the aftermath is better managed than the time frame in which the events led to the assassination,” Foreign Advisor Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury told The Daily Star. Chowdhury urged Pakistan to “contain” the aftermath of the killing “for South Asia’s sake”.
“Everything will depend on how the aftermath is managed,” he said.
In a statement, the chief of the caretaker government Fakhruddin Ahmed said the government and the people of Bangladesh mourned the tragedy, according to DPA.
The Bangladeshi media by and large refrained from offering any editorial comments to the development in Pakistan.
Observers here say Bangladeshis, who separated from Pakistan in 1971 after a violent struggle, generally loved to hate Benazir’s father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. They blame the senior Bhutto for egging on military ruler Gen. Yahya Khan to order a military crackdown in the then East Pakistan in March 1971, after talks between the victorious Awami League and the government broke down.
However, taking a wider view of Bhutto’s assassination, the analysts told The Daily Star that the militant elements that killed Bhutto would see her death as a “crucial” success on their part and that would encourage the like-minded forces in the region to engage in similar operations.
They said Bangladesh would have to heighten its vigilance on militant activities in the country or risk an increase in similar attacks, especially on Feb 21 and on Independence Day March 26.
Prof. Imtiaz Ahmed of International Relations Department at Dhaka University interpreted this killing as a success of militant forces in Pakistan.
The rise of militancy in Pakistan poses a serious threat to democracy in South Asia as it undermines mainstream political forces and processes, said Ahmed.
Terming her killing “an ideological and instrumental blow to moderate Islam and democracy”, he said Bhutto’s death would strengthen the militants, and militancy could spread through the hot spots in South Asia.
M. Abdul Hafiz, former head of Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies, said the killing has made Pakistan’s democratic future even bleaker and would seriously destabilise the country.
He said Benazir explicitly backed a US agenda and the militants will see her death as a victory over US interests in the region.
Meanwhile, according to the DPA, security forces were asked to maintain a strict watch on the refugee colonies in northern Dhaka’s Mirpur and Mohammadpur districts, the capital’s police commissioner Naim Ahmad said.
The two areas house thousands of Pakistani refugees stranded in Bangladesh since the 1971 liberation war.
Bhutto was fatally shot at in the neck and head Thursday by gunmen at an election rally at the Liaqat Bagh park in the garrison town of Rawalpindi. The Al Qaeda terror network has claimed responsibility for the assassination.