By Muhammad Najeeb, IANS
Islamabad : Former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto Monday reiterated her demand that “countries like the US and UK” investigate the Oct 18 blasts that ripped through her homecoming rally, killing 148 people.
“I am justified in demanding a probe into the blasts by countries like the United States and United Kingdom as my own government is not capable of doing these investigations fairly,” she told journalists at the tomb of Pakistan’s founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah in Karachi.
But Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao rejected her demand saying Pakistani agencies were investigating the incident and the government could not “allow interference by any third country”.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Sherpao said Bhutto should not make a demand that was not acceptable. He said the initial investigation report had been submitted to President Pervez Musharraf.
According to the initial report, “militants” were behind the blasts and both the attacks were suicide attempts to kill the chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) who was leading a massive rally after returning to the country after eight years of self exile.
The report said Bhutto survived the attack as she was inside the specially made “blast proof” truck.
Adding to the pressure on the government, Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said the Supreme Court was looking to the government for a thorough inquiry into the blasts.
“If no action is taken, we would take suo motu action,” he said.
Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, who heads the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), muddied the situation by alleging that the attack was “a PPP act” and that “the party did it to gain cheap popularity”.
“I am convinced that the PPP was behind these blasts to gain popularity and discredit the government,” he told GEO television.
Bhutto reacted strongly and said: “He has gone insane. I believe that no sane person can give such a statement.”
She said after such a statement coming from ruling party’s president, it had become impossible to cooperate with the government.
“Now I would say more convincingly that a probe into the blasts should be done by trained independent security persons.”
According to Bhutto, some extremists and “highly irresponsible people” surrounded Musharraf and they did not want complete restoration of democracy in the country.
She said she had given three names to Musharraf after the blast.
“I won’t give these names (to the media)… I have told these names to President Musharraf,” Bhutto said.
Bhutto’s husband Asif Ali Zardari, who is in Dubai, has accused Pakistani security agencies of responsibility for the powerful blasts that struck the long convoy of vehicles led by her.
“Seeing three million people in Bhutto’s reception at Karachi Airport, the rulers are afraid that she has posed a challenge to them and it was an attempt to eliminate her,” Zardari told ARY TV.
In a comment published in the Financial Times Monday, Bhutto said democracy was the only way to defeat terrorism.
“I did not come this far in life to be intimidated by suicide bombers. There is a battle raging in Pakistan for the hearts and minds of a new generation. It is a battle for the future of Pakistan as a democratic nation,” Bhutto said.
“I returned to Pakistan to lead the fight for democracy. With the blood of my supporters on the streets and on our clothes, I reaffirm my commitment to these values,” said Bhutto, who flew back home Oct 18.
“I know that the militant forces fear me as their enemy. General Zia-ul-Haq, the extremist dictator of Pakistan in the 1980s, once said that the greatest mistake in his life was not killing me when he had the chance,” she said.
“The extremists thrive under dictatorship; they know that moderation and democracy is their undoing. They will stop at nothing to undo both.”