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Pakistan: DI Condemns Bhutto Assassination |
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Written by DI Media Committee
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Thursday, 27 December 2007 |
 Mrs. Benazir Bhutto DI call on all Pakistanis to work
together for peace, security, solid democracy, national unity and
reconciliation in Pakistan.
DI do hope the general elections can still be held.
Defend International Condemns Mrs. Bhutto Assassination
The leader of the Pakistan People's Party and
former Prime Minister Mrs. Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on December 27, 2007 in a combined shooting
and suicide bomb attack that also killed at least 20 and many others wounded.
Mrs. Bhutto was shot in neck and chest with an
AK-47 rifle as she left a political rally in the Liaquat National Bagh in Rawalpindi
near the capital Islamabad where she addressed thousands of supporters in her
campaign for January 8 parliamentary elections. A gunman then blew himself up. After the attack she
was taken to Rawalpindi General
Hospital where she died at 6:16 pm. The cause of death was reported:
Gunshot to the neck.
Nowadays civil
liberties and democracy are under attack as never before and the need for a collective
action and response to counter or mitigate these threats has never been
greater.
Defend International strongly condemns this terrorist act against Mrs. Bhutto and
expresses its deepest sympathy
to her family, including her children and her colleagues. Our heartfelt condolences
go to the families of all who
have lost their lives, as well as to the people of Pakistan.
This attack represents an assault on stability and
security in the country and is undermining its democracy. Mrs. Bhutto declined to
allow assassins to dictate that exact path in reaching their goals.
- We call for the perpetrators to be brought to justice as
soon as possible.
- Pakistan clearly needs
serenity, security and stability. Therefore we call on all Pakistanis to work
together for peace, security, solid democracy, national unity and
reconciliation in Pakistan.
- We do hope the general elections can still be held. The cause
of democracy must survive this tragedy.
Facts
- Mrs. Bhutto was born on June 21, 1953.
- She was the eldest child of former Prime
Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
- In December 1976 she was elected president of
the Oxford Union, becoming the first Asian woman to head the prestigious
debating society.
- On December 1987 she got married with Mr.
Asif Ali Zardari. They had three children.
- She was the first woman elected to lead a
Muslim state. She served twice as Pakistan's prime minister between
1988 and 1996.
- In 1998 she went into an eight-year
self-imposed exile in Dubai.
- On October 18, 2007 she returned to Pakistan from the
exile.
- On the same day, her parade was targeted
by a suicide attacker, killing more than 140 people. On that occasion she
hardly escaped injury.
- She risked everything in her attempt to win
democracy in Pakistan.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 20 June 2008 )
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