Posted on 12/27/2007 5:12:06 AM PST by COUNTrecount
Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has been critically injured after a suspected suicide attack at a political rally in Pakistan.
It was believed to be a suicide attackShe is undergoing emergency surgery at a nearby hospital, Sky News sources say.
The explosion went off just after Ms Bhutto left the rally in Rawalpindi, minutes after her speech to thousands of people.
“India orders “high state of vigil” on Pakistan border NEW DELHI, Dec 28 (Reuters): India has ordered its border forces to “a high state of vigil” after the assassination of Benazir
Bhutto raised the spectre of chaos in Pakistan spilling over to its nuclear-armed neighbour. “There has been a general advisory to all the border forces to maintain a high state of vigil. You
can guess why,” a Home Ministry spokesman told Reuters on Friday. “There are no specific threats as yet. They have been put on alert, there have been various speculations, jihadis, the
spillover effect.” (Posted @ 11:15 PST)”
************************
At least 10 dead in riots after Bhutto murder: interior ministry KARACHI, Dec 28 (AFP): At least 10 people were killed and dozens wounded Thursday as angry mobs took to
the streets in several Pakistan cities after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the interior ministry told AFP. “The death toll in the unrest after Bhutto’s death is 10, mostly in Sindh
province,” ministry spokesman Javed Cheema said. He said dozens of people had been wounded in the violence, which hit several cities across the country. Four died in Karachi, four in
rural Sindh province in the south and two in Lahore, he said. (Posted @ 09:58 PST)
http://www.dawn.com/2007/12/28/welcome.htm
*********************
A REPORT sent by the Rawalpindi General Hospital to the Health Department of the Punjab provincial government said all
efforts by its doctors to revive Ms Bhutto failed and she was declared dead exactly 41 minutes after she was brought at its
emergency department at 5.35pm with open wounds on her left temporal bone from which “brain matter was exuding”.
It said the PPP leader was not breathing at the time and her pulse and blood pressure “were not recordable”.
The report said “immediate resuscitation (process) was started” and she was taken to the operation theatre where the same
was done by a team of doctors headed by Prof Musaddiq Khan, principal of the Rawalpindi Medical College.
“Left antrolateral thoracotomy for open cardiac massage was performed,” it said and added: “In spite of all the possible
measures she could not be revived and (was) declared dead at 1816 (6.16pm) hours.”
http://www.dawn.com/2007/12/28/top2.htm
*****************
LAHORE, Dec 27: Rail and air traffic between major cities was suspended on Thursday after violence broke out in Karachi, Rawalpindi, Lahore and Peshawar.
All PIA flights from Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Peshawar were rescheduled till 6am on Friday.
“Most crew members and other staff could not reach airports, necessitating the rescheduling of flights,” a PIA spokesperson said while advising passengers to check
the flight schedule before coming to the airport.
Officials at the railway headquarters in Lahore said that the uprooting of a rail track by a violent mob near Rawalpindi had made it impossible to run trains to and from
Rawalpindi and Peshawar.
Similarly, some trains had been set on fire in some areas of Sindh, forcing the PR Karachi Division authorities to suspend the rail service. “The situation in Lahore and
Quetta is also not favourable to run trains from there,” a railway officer said. He urged travellers to check the departure time of their respective trains from railways’
inquiry number 117.
http://www.dawn.com/2007/12/28/top9.htm
********************
HYDERABAD, Dec 27: At least five people were injured when the grief-stricken workers of the Pakistan People’s Party turned violent in various cities and towns of
Sindh protesting the assassination of chairperson Benazir Bhutto on Thursday.
About two dozen bank branches, several police stations, petrol pumps and vehicles were set ablaze in arson attacks as a pall of gloom fell over the province.
Thousands of terrified passengers, travelling from Karachi to Punjab and the NWFP through buses and trains, were stranded at different points on highways and
railways stations after the traffic was suspended by the railways authorities and transporters.
PPP supporters cried and hugged each other in mourning. Angry protesters then took to the streets and attacked offices of nazims, PML-Q and MQM in various
towns.
In Hyderabad, the protesters smashed billboards and portraits of political leaders who were allies of the government.
The offices of DPO and DCO in Tando Mohammad Khan were torched.
The protesters burnt an engine and three bogies of Mehran Express at the Tandojam station. When protesters tried to torch another bank in Tando Allahyar, the
guard resorted to firing injuring four people.
Offices of Matiari DPO, taluka nazim, naib nazim and TMO were set on fire. The protesters torched four vehicles parked at the Matiari police station, including police
mobiles.
In Tando Mohammad Khan, the activists set ablaze the district nazim secretariat, TMA office, a fire engine and two petrol pumps.
In Shikarpur, offices of the Edhi Welfare Trust, PIA, TMA, district council, railway station, MQM and First Women Bank were ransacked.
In Thatta, protesters set on fire a telephone exchange, a traffic police picket, TMA office, Raja bakery and a number of vehicles.
The PPP supporters attacked the Thatta police station and exchanged fire with the police, injuring an unidentified constable. Portraits of the Shirazi brothers and
banners of pro-government parties were set on fire.
In Badin, shops were closed, youths took to the streets and set ablaze tyres.
In Nawabshah, PPP workers resorted to aerial firing and burnt tyres.
The protesters also blocked the National Highway at Qazi Ahmed. The main cloth market and two vehicles were also torched.
In Khairpur, PPP activists blocked all the roads.
In Naushahro Feroze, hundreds of people gathered in Padidan and pelted the railway station with stones. They also burnt some shops in the town.
http://www.dawn.com/2007/12/28/top7.htm
******************
LARKANA, Dec 27: A pall of gloom descended over the Bhutto hometown as the news of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination
reached here on Thursday evening. With people in a state of shock, there were scenes of rioting all around.
Small traders and kiosk owners shut their shops as people came out into the streets, shouting slogans against President
Pervez Musharraf, burning tyres and attacking vehicles. Policemen were nowhere to be seen.
Naudero town was completely shut with protestors raising slogans against the government and damaging everything that
came in their path.
The protesters set on fire bank branches in various localities of the city, besides torching the District Council Hall in the
Jinnahbagh area.
An employee of the Askari Bank told this correspondent on phone that some bank workers were still inside the branch.
The main building of the State Life Insurance was damaged and eyewitnesses said that it had been set on fire.
A bakery was also set ablaze. Some protesters in Naudero set on fire the Khushhal Khan Khatak Express at the Shahnawaz Bhutto railway station, reports reaching
here said.
A large number of PPP supporters reached Ms Bhutto’s Naudero house to mourn the death of their leader.
Reports reaching here from Shahdadkot indicated that the town was quite tense. Protesters had set ablaze a bank branch, burnt tyres and push-carts right from the
‘Koto Moto’ chowk to the Station Road.
In Qambar, PPP supporters pulled down posters and banners of rival parties and removed flags hoisted over party offices.
Protesters attacked a police station in Badah and burnt a car inside the station. Police personnel ran away from the station while the wireless operator took refuge in a
nearby mosque.
In Larkana, a mob tried to break into the Market police station but protesters were dispersed after police lobbed tear-gas shells, sources said.
Rangers and police personnel started patrolling the city at 10.30pm.
The district police officer and the district nazim had called for army’s support to control the situation but troops were not seen anwhere till the filing of this report.
According to eyewitnesses, mobs broke into two arms’ shop near Pakistan Chowk and looted arms and ammunition. Police confirmed that one arms shop had been
looted.
Offices of the Education Department near the Govt Girls’ Colleges and Wapda’s office near the Al Murtaza House were also attacked.
http://www.dawn.com/2007/12/28/top8.htm
Thanks for the news roundup.
The outpouring of emotion and passions was a given from the start. Burning tires makes for dramatic photos and gives opportunity for dramatic narrative, but does not threaten the security of the nukes, or bring the government down. How long does it go on? Does it get worse or does it peter out? How do the other factions react? Does another shoe drop? What is going on behind the scenes?
We still have a lot of watching and waiting to do before we get a good idea of what the full impact of this will be.
The responses of India will be one good indicator to watch.
TANKS for the info,,,
I’ll follow the herd at this point,,,
Civil War is very close,,,But,,,
I don’t think the PPP has the fire-power to pull it off.
FWIW~~~
Navy.mil only shows :
Ships and Submarines
Deployable Battle Force Ships: 280
Ships Underway (away from homeport): 73 ships (26% of total)
On deployment: 90 ships (32% of total)
Attack submarines underway (away from homeport): 29 submarines (53%)
On deployment: 19 submarines (35%)
Ships Underway
Carriers:
USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) - 5th Fleet
Amphibious Warfare Ships:
USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) - 5th Fleet
Tarawa Expeditionary Strike Group:
USS Tarawa (LHA 1) - 5th Fleet
Aircraft (operational): 3700+
~~~
Down 300+ Aircraft from two weeks ago,,,
Two or more carriers mite pop-up in the next day or so,,,
I think you are right...I looked all over here for that discussion, and came up empty...I could have sworn someone had mentioned that senario, and it was being discussed...
I know it kinda made me “???, huh???” as well...But at the time it didn’t surprise me enough to give it any more than a “yawn”...
Yep, definetly time to just sit back and watch. Too early still to tell how this is going to play out. Bhutto had a big following (some polls had her going at something like 48% favorability). How much is this going to upset the applecart? Mushie has shown before that he’s not afraid to go into lockdown mode to preserve order.
I agree that the seriousness of this crisis can probably be measured by watching the readiness of the Indian military along the LOC.
‘It is surprising how the MSM refuses to mention she was corrupt.
Thanks for trashing our closest ally in Pakistan.’
When you get to the point that you don’t want to admit whats real, you’ve lost your way my friend.
She and here husband stole millions of dollars from the Pakistani people.
‘She and here husband stole millions of dollars from the Pakistani people.’
True, but that’s just par for the course in Pakistan.
If they did it twice, they would have done it again. It amazes me that anyone can rationalize trusting a known thief.
The dollar amounts alone make the Clinton’s look like amatures...and many rant and rave about THEM all day long in this and other forums.
Its a bizzare ‘disconnect’ from reality.
“It amazes me that anyone can rationalize trusting a known thief.”
I don’t think it is a matter of anyone trusting her, but Bhutto was the most attractive alternative to Musharref in the view of the Bush Administration. Despite her thievery, she is still the ‘symbol of democracy’ for many Pakistanis.
That being said, I do not believe it is proper for the media to lionize her as a martyr. She was just as interested in lining her families’ pockets as she was in bringing freedom to Pakistan. She was no martyr.
Civil war doesn’t sound so far fetched with news like this now hitting the wires -
Pakistan: Security forces reportedly allowed to shoot at rioters
By AP AND JPOST.COM STAFF
A spokesman for a paramilitary group in Pakistan said Friday that security forces in the southern part of the country have been given permission to shoot at rioters.
On Thursday, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was killed in a terror attack.
In riots which ensued at least nine people have been killed by Friday morning
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1198517232762&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Yes, everything is very unstable now. I can’t think of anything worse than a country with nukes going through a civil war. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.
I certainly saw footage (like the man crying) with other bodies around... even if I personally have nothing against her and might even like her, her criticisms of the present regime and Musharraf should have possibly been done with more tact.
saw this posted elsewhere on the board, but thought it would be good to post it on the main thread as well -
AQ Infiltration Of Pakistani Intelligence A Possibility
Captain’s Quarters ^ | Dec. 28, 2007 | Ed Morrissey
Posted on 12/28/2007 7:47:14 AM PST by jdm
The assassination of Benazir Bhutto looks more like a complex operation, planned carefully, with decoys and serious preparation. Eli Lake at The New York Sun reports that the murderers used one explosion as a feint to draw Bhutto into a sniper’s line of fire. The killers had already prepared to shoot through her defenses:
American and Pakistani military leaders are seeking to account for what may be renegade commando units from the Pakistani military’s special forces in the wake of the assassination of Pakistan’s opposition leader and former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto.
The attack yesterday at Rawalpindi bore the hallmarks of a sophisticated military operation. At first, Bhutto’s rally was hit by a suicide bomb that turned out to be a decoy. According to press reports and a situation report of the incident relayed to The New York Sun by an American intelligence officer, Bhutto’s armored limousine was shot by multiple snipers whose armor-piercing bullets penetrated the vehicle, hitting the former premier five times in the head, chest, and neck. Two of the snipers then detonated themselves shortly after the shooting, according to the situation report, while being pursued by local police. ...
A working theory, according to this American source, is that Al Qaeda or affiliated jihadist groups had effectively suborned at least one unit of Pakistan’s Special Services Group, the country’s equivalent of Britain’s elite SAS commandos. This official, however, stressed this was just a theory at this point. Other theories include that the assassins were trained by Qaeda or were from other military services, or the possibility that the assassins were retired Pakistani special forces.
“They just killed the most protected politician in the whole country,” this source said. “We really don’t know a lot at this point, but the first thing that is happening is we are asking the Pakistani military to account for every black team with special operations capabilities.”
The operation described by Lake does not sound like a typical al-Qaeda operation. While their attacks have a certain level of coordination, they do not have much sophistication beyond bomb-making. They usually use fairly banal devices, while their hallmark has been multiple attacks synchronized within minutes of each other. Until now, their assassination attempts have not involved skilled snipers with the kind of weaponry or ammunition Lake describes.
If true, this would tend to implicate Pakistan’s intelligence service, the ISI. They have long been suspected of sympathies towards the radical Islamists. In fact, they propped up the Taliban in Afghanistan until 9/11 changed the political calculations in that region. It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to think that AQ could easily have infiltrated the ISI and plotted this operation using Pakistan’s intel resources.
This would have allowed AQ another way to profit from the assassination. If this turns out to be true, then it would undermine Pervez Musharraf, both at home and abroad. It could also pit the army against the intel service, which also would benefit AQ by crippling Musharraf’s ability to wage effective war against the radicals in Waziristan and the North West Frontier Province. Even with AQ claiming responsibility for the assassination, this infiltration puts everyone on notice that the national-security apparatus of Pakistan has been seriously compromised — not an especially comforting thought when one considers the nuclear capability of Pakistan.
One final unsettling thought comes to mind as well. If the snipers really did blow themselves up after the shooting, and didn’t use patsies to cover their tracks, then AQ must have more snipers available to them for other operations. Professional snipers are far too valuable to be discarded, and even infiltrated ISI units would be so casual about losing this scarce resource. If Lake’s source has this right, the infiltration could be very extensive indeed.
The ISI have had close ties to the Islamists since the 1970s especially ,Mehsud, a top militant commander fighting the Pakistani Army in South Waziristan with known ties to al-Qaeda and Afghan Taleban. Bhutto also had received letters before this assassination from friends of bin Laden.
Bhutto: I have "more to fear from unidentified members of a power structure" which she described as "allies of the forces of militancy”.
Those ISI figures became militarized after our support of them in their war against the Soviets. I know a different time, a different place..but nevertheless these once friendly ghosts have come back to haunt us.
If our intelligence was just watching those surrounding Musharraf and/or close friends of, then the CIA dropped the ball for Bush and Bhutto big time. Also now, after her death, she is a popular hero to politicians in the US, but when she first came out of exile, she was not thought this "perfect" martyr they now all applaud her to be. Our politicians and media hosts pull out thir photographs with Bhutto, Edwards makes a call to Musharraf saying "he met Bhutto at a conference in Abu Dhabi a few years ago where he was speaking, noting that she told him about how Pakistan's democracy movement had been "baptized in blood"; Edwards touts he knows the region, has spent time in Pakistan, and spent time with Musharraf". Edwards was pandering to his audience.
Obviously people are going to blame Musharraf for bringing Pakistan to this point, "intentionally or unintentionally". It's very clear that terrorism has increased in Pakistan. Any unrest is welcomed by the ISI and other al Qaeda "think tank" related groups. Bhutto threatened the ISI and the military control that exists more than she threatened Musharraf.
Another to consider, even though I smell the ISI and its ties to known terrorists, is Nawaz Sharif who talked of Bhutto "as a sister" but it was he removed her from office when he became PM.
The people in the streets turn on a whim and live on conspiracy theories just like those in this country. Acts of violence like the assassination of Bhutto hurt Musharraf, not help him. Obvious person of interest is not always so.
. Sorry to disagree. "And sorry you had to dignify my idiotic statements with your reply".
Looks like the Indians are shutting down rail service bwtn the countries. I think there is a lot of news not getting out of Pakistan at the moment and what there is coming out is only coming out b/c of the spill over effect.
Train services between India, Pakistan stopped following violence in Pakistan
http://www.kristv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7551399
NEW DELHI (AP) - India is halting its train service to Pakistan, citing “security considerations.”
Pakistan is mired in violence following the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.
There have been reports of mobs burning 10 railway stations and several trains. And a senior railroad official says rioters have uprooted a section of track leading to the Indian border. Bus services have also been canceled.
Trains are used by hundreds of thousands of poor families divided by the 1947 creation of Pakistan.
A quick check of some of the Pakistan press sites shows that they are still up and reporting. Martial law, of course, has not been declared and the independent press seems to be relatively unhindered. I would expect that the major stories are getting out. Behind the scenes action, of course, would by definition be behind the scenes and not easily detectable.
I don’t know about bloggers. I’ve not taken the time to cultivate a list of Pakistan blogs. I would expect that quite a few are reasonably active, although I would imagine that some would be discrete and measured in what they post.
Pakistan is not Myanmar. Anything major in scope, and normally visible at a local level is likely to get out without much delay.
If martial law (or some degree of extraordinary emergency measures) is declared and the press gagged, internet access cut and cell phones blocked, then we may be much more restricted. Pakistan is just too big, and too technologically sophisticated to go dark without extraordinary measures. At least that is my impression.
We don't disagree. What I posted to you was my response to someone who said Al Qaeda WAS NOT responsible and that Musharraf was the only one who had something to gain, ergo, he did it.
Sorry for the confusion, but we agree.
I don’t understand why Bhutto’s supporters are so quick to implicate and riot against government offices. Al Quida/Taliban/Fundamentalists seem to be the most likely culprits in her assasination.
I guess rioting against Al Quida will get you dead pretty fast! So let’s just burn tires and loot government officies.
BTW - Domestic coverage of this potentially significant event is pathetic. Here in Milwaukee the Packers, the weather and “lifestyle” stories are running before any coverage of Pakistan.
I’m watching IBN/CNN out of India online...
I think freeper Jeffers makes a good point here:
“It won’t matter to many, even most perhaps, in Pakistan, who killed Bhutto. Each faction has already seen close calls before and ‘knew’, before Bhutto was killed, who was against her. Truth and reason will not find fertile soil in these minds.”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1944679/posts?page=835#835
It doesn’t have to make sense. It just has to fit an emotionally satisfying (or purgative) narrative.
Thanks BOBTHENAILER
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.