Pakistan Rudderless After Bhutto's Death
Grief And Violence In The Streets; Division On How To Carry On Bhutto's Legacy
-
Play CBS Video Video Pakistan, A Country In Chaos Pakistan's government insists that parliamentary elections will be held as scheduled. But in the turmoil following Benazir Bhutto's death, it's not clear if that will be possible. Lara Logan reports.
-
Video Bhutto's Death Cause Debated Pakistan's government has released new video of the attack that killed Benazir Bhutto. Officials claim that she died from a skull fracture, not from gunfire or shrapnel. Sheila MacVicar reports.
-
Video Benazir Bhutto Assassinated The figure of democracy in Pakistan, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto died after being struck by gunshots and then a bomb explosion near her car. Richard Roth reports.
-
-
A Pakistani policeman throws a tear gas shell towards protesting activists of Pakistan's assassinated former premier Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP), in Rawalpindi, December 28, 2007. (AFP/Getty Images)
-
A Pakistan's People Party member holds a candle in memory of slained party leader and former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto (on picture on jacket) during a memorial in Central London, December 28, 2007. (BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty)
-
Supporters of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto bury their leader at her ancestral graveyard in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh near Larkan, Pakistan on Friday, Dec. 28, 2007. Hundreds of thousands of mourners paid their last respects to Bhutto as she was buried Friday beside her father at the mausoleum of Pakistan's most famous political dynasty, a day after a suicide attacker killed her. (AP Photo/B.K.Bangash)
-
Asif Ali Zardari, left, husband of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto comforts his son Bilawal, after her funeral prayers at Ghari Khuda Baksh, Dec. 28, 2007. (Getty Images/Asif Hassan)
-
Mourners surround the coffin of assassinated Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, Dec. 28, 2007 in Larkana, Pakistan. (APTN)
-
-
Photo Essay Protests And Tears Benazir Bhutto's supporters protested in a spasm of violence while thousands of mourners paid last respects to the slain former prime minister.
-
Interactive Benazir Bhutto: 1953-2007 A look at the life and death of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto
The funeral for slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto in southern Pakistan on Friday was filled with the rawest emotions for the hundreds of thousands who converged on her family's mausoleum here.
She was interred next to her father, also a popular former prime minister who met a violent death, reports CBS News correspondent Sheila MacVicar from Islamabad.
People crammed inside the cavernous hall, throwing rose petals on the coffin. Some cried, others chanted "Benazir is alive," as her body was laid to rest. One man sobbed uncontrollably, crying, "My sister has gone." Another fainted as several thousand people jostled to get a last glimpse.
Bhutto's son, Bilawal, and her husband Asif Ali Zardari, who wore a traditional white Sindhi cap and appeared composed, helped lift the coffin into the grave. An Islamic cleric led mourners in prayers.
A vast crowd congregated outside to pay its last respects, lining up in hundreds of rows for the prayers and later filing in to throw sand on the grave. They had arrived by tractors, buses, cars and jeeps that were parked in dusty fields surrounding the mausoleum in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh, where Bhutto's father, former Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto is also buried.
Some Bhutto supporters shouted "General, killer!" "Army, killer" in apparent reference to President Pervez Musharraf, who recently retired as army chief after eight years of military rule. Party leaders tried to pacify the crowd and urged them to stop.
Musharraf has never been popular, and now he's being blamed for having done too little to insure the safety of his main political rival, reports CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan. Pakistan's democracy hinges largely on how he responds.
Pakistan's interior minister told The Associated Press that al Qaeda and Taliban were behind the assassination of the former Prime Minister.
"We have the evidence that al Qaeda and Taliban were behind the suicide attack on Benazir Bhutto," Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz said.
Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said that on Friday, the government recorded an "intelligence intercept" in which militant leader Baitullah Mehsud "congratulated his people for carrying out this cowardly act." He gave no further details on the nature of the intercept.
Cheema described Mehsud as an "al Qaeda leader" and said he was also behind the Oct. 18 bombing against Bhutto's homecoming parade through Karachi that killed more than 140 people.
He said Pakistani security forces would hunt down those responsible for Bhutto's death.
In cities elsewhere in Pakistan, Bhutto's supporters ransacked banks, waged shootouts with police and burned trains and stations in a spasm of violence less than two weeks before parliamentary elections.
A Pakistani security official said at least 23 people have been killed in violence and the army has been called in to help keep order in several cities in southern Pakistan.
"The situation on the ground is quite precarious," Pakistan's Geo TV Islamabad bureau chief Absar Alam told CBS' The Early Show. Alam added that the country is "spinning out of control."
It was BB's mission to protect Pakistan and we will complete her mission.
Eman Ali ShahSignboards that had been erected two months ago to mark Bhutto's return from exile to Pakistan still dotted the route. On one, someone had scrawled, "Benazir you are the hope for the poor."
In front of the mausoleum, with its three domes, mourners wept and hugged each other. Some chanted slogans against figures in the pro-government political party, as they waited for the coffin to be shifted inside. Others shouted, "As long as the moon and sun are alive, so is the name of Bhutto."
Zulfiqar Bhutto, who formed the party and is an iconic leader in Pakistan's troubled 60-year history, was executed in 1979 during the military regime of the late dictator, Gen. Zia ul-Haq, after he was convicted of conspiring to murder the father of a political opponent. Benazir was the eldest of his children.
She visited the mausoleum in October to pay respects at her father's grave, days after she narrowly escaped another suicide attack on her homecoming parade in Karachi, that killed more than 140 people. The ambulance passed over a ramp that was built for that visit.
People who gathered for Friday's funeral repeatedly chanted slogans against the former top elected officials in Sindh and Punjab provinces, who are members of the ruling, pro-Musharraf party. Bhutto supporters suspect those officials were complicit in attacks on the opposition leader - which the government denies.
"We Sindhis do not want Pakistan anymore. Why is it only Sindhi prime ministers are assassinated or killed?" said Rehmatullah, 25, who goes by one name, referring to the demise of the Bhuttos and the country's first prime minister, Liaquat Ali Khan, who was shot to death in 1951. All three died in Rawalpindi where Pakistan's army has its headquarters.
"Now we will bring revolution," Rehmatullah said.
Another mourner disagreed.
"No we need Pakistan. It was BB's mission to protect Pakistan and we will complete her mission," said Eman Ali Shah.
Bhutto, whose party has long been popular among Pakistan's legions of poor, served two terms as prime minister between 1988 and 1996. Both elected governments were toppled amid accusations of corruption and mismanagement. She had been vying for a third term if her party fared well in Jan. 8 parliamentary elections.
Bhutto was a domineering presence in her party, and there is no clear successor to the leadership. Her husband, who was freed in December 2004 after eight years in detention on graft charges, is one contender to head the party although he lacks the cachet of a blood relative.
Musharraf on Friday telephoned Zardari to express "heartfelt condolences" and said the whole nation was "grieved" at Bhutto's death, the state Associated Press of Pakistan reported.
There are other younger members of the Bhutto clan - which has itself been riven by feuds and rivalry - who have been touted as future politicians, among them Bhutto's son Bilawal, and her 25-year old niece, Fatima Bhutto, who was sometimes fiercely critical of her aunt in a weekly column for a leading Pakistani newspaper.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
More From World
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
... - 38
- next
See all 747 CommentsMany Religions including Islam have been hijacked by Extremist doing evil deeds in the name of the Religion. Its up to the Religion to Police itself and be rid of those tarnishing its good name or else those outside it will think those inside it are in compliance!
Donnie (current alias Bucktooth99) is the 99 your birthdate? HS graduation date? Missing teeth? IQ? Or, number of alias?
The Pilgrims were realy terrorists?
Posted by FloydZepp at 10:57 AM : Dec 29, 2007
He could still be reading / his lips might still be moving....
Posted by bucktooth99 at 10:52 AM : Dec 29, 2007
Right on!!!
Why would I do research on Israel, Palestine, muslims, jihad, or anything else?
My concern is America. Period. End of story. Once we start focusing on OUR problems, and start minding OUR business, and cut our ties with Israel, THEN we will NOT BE a target of the islamic jihadist terrorists.
The terrorists only hate us because of our unending support of Israel in EVERY single matter AGAINST the Palestinians. And all of the muslim countries feel the same way.
Is Norway threatened by Islamic jihad? No - because they don''t support Israel. They might recognize them as a nation - but they don''t provide them with arms, ammo, intelligence, and money for use against the Palestinians. The same goes for Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Brazil, Kenya, Ireland, Portugal, etc, etc.
Is the US threatened by Islamic jihad? YES!!!
England? YES!!!
See a pattern developing yet, or is your bible still blinding your vision?
Posted by FloydZepp
That was hilarious!!!
"You stepped on my side of the church!!!"
Like a 6 year old yelling at his brother for touching his stuff.
Christians are funny!!! (When they''re not calling for the genocide of an entire race of people that is...)
Posted by singinrick at 10:28 AM : Dec 29, 2007
Almost EVERY Muslim that you see on the news chanting, "Death to America! Death to Israel!" are the Palestinian people that have forcibly displaced from their homes by the Israeli army to make room for Israeli "settlers". When the Palestinian people protest the forced displacement, they are labeled terrorists and enemies of the state.
America backs Israel 100% every time no matter how brutally they treat the Palestinians, and then Rick, the brainwashed Christian zombie is surprised when the Muslims back the Palestinians and hate our guts.
Duh.
As far as Vietnam is concerned, we withdrew and the South fell to the North. Disaster? Not quite:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/asia/2006/
Posted by emsaund1 at 10:16 AM : Dec 29, 2007
No. Not at the expense of the lives of the US military. Not at the expense of the American tax payer.
Those people only know hatred and violence. They''ve been fighting and warring with each other for 1400 years - it''s a lifestyle to them. They don''t want anything to do with democracy - they hate us and everything about us INCLUDING our form of government.
The ONLY way they can be controlled is if they have a brutal dictator controlling them. Look at the disastrous condition that''s prevailed since we "liberated" them.
And since when is the United States of America the country that decides, "We don''t like your form of government or your governments leaders, so like it or not we''re going to change it for you"?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted by hungry1968
Ahhhh my good friend. Freedom, democracy, fighting terrorism, removing tyrants.... causes not worth fighting for in your eyes, no?
Posted by emsaund1 at 10:05 AM : Dec 29, 2007
No. Criminals need to be incarcerated. That costs money.
This war DOES NOT need to be fought. That''s money that could be much better spent elsewhere ON OUR COUNTRY AND OUR CITIZENS.
Isn''t our tax money supposed to be spent on our government providing us services, like national security? Shouldn''t our military be looking for the terrorists based in Afghanistan, instead of destroying the infrastructure of a country that did nothing to us?
I was talking about FLOYDZEPPS''s reference to his thought of wasting tax dollars in Iraq.
I''m making the point the he seems to mind wasting tax dollars in Iraq but yet, he probably wouldnt mind wasting his tax dollars supporting criminals all of their lives.
Kind of an oxymoron, wouldnt you say?
But, I digress. I believe I am correct about Vietnam as hindsight has shown us that it is true.
Posted by emsaund1 at 09:48 AM : Dec 29, 2007
What does Iraq have to do with our prison system? Are you talking in some form of cryptic messaging?
As far as Vietnam is concerned, we withdrew and the South fell to the North. Disaster? Not quite:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/asia/2006/
It seems withdrawing troops from unnecessary intervention isn''t always a bad thing - now is it?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted by FloydZepp
There is no fear here. I''m merely pointing out the fact that you cannot win a war without proper funding, proper training, a highly motivated military and public support (to include proper political decision making)
It''s up to you if you want to take on the notion that we''ve already lost the war before it''s even over.
You share the same attitude as the hippie''s of old. The result: a lost cause and wasted lives. That''s the vision you share.
Thank God you''re not running the country.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted by FloydZepp
What''s interesting is this: You seem to mind the fact that we are in Iraq (wasting your tax dollars) but yet, I bet you wouldnt seem to mind wasting your tax dollars in supporting criminals all their lives in the prison systems.
But, I digress. I believe I am correct about Vietnam as hindsight has shown us that it is true.
The military did what they had to do, but yet, had the rug cut out from under them by politicians and the liberal movement swaying public opinion during that time.
That view is not only supported and proven to be correct, but was also reiterrated by the top North Vietnamese General in charge at the end of the war.
You said:
"The usual lack of respect for a strong military by the liberal LBJ''''s administration at the start of the Vietnam war along with the traitor''s Fonda, Kerry, and others most likely also contributed to our demise.
Posted by emsaund1 at 09:17 AM : Dec 29, 2007"
John Kerry is a decorated war hero. Like him or not, he won three purple hearts and a bronze star. I wasn''t referencing LBJ - he was a heartless president. He had no soul - typical of presidents from Texas it seems.
How many awards do Cheney and Bush have for their military service?
Posted by FloydZepp at 09:37 AM : Dec 29, 2007
He''s a
G reedy
O ld
P arasite?
I suppose you consider "AWOL George" and "Five-Deferment Cheney" to be "True American Patriots"?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted by hungry1968
John Murtha was also decorated. Just look at him.
At any rate, I did not call LBJ a traitor. I said he had a lack of respect for the military during that time.
Also, I believe it was LBJ caught on tape standing up on the top step before entering Air Force One that said "Suckers" to the US military.
Yes, I would call that a lack of repect for the military.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
... - 38
- next
See all 747 Comments