SATURDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2007
11:15 MECCA TIME, 8:15 GMT
Qaeda link to Bhutto killing denied
Bhutto's killing on Thursday sparked off violent
clashes in several provinces of Pakistan [AFP]
The commander of a pro-Taliban group in Pakistan has
told news agencies by phone that Baitullah Mehsud,
another pro-Taliban figure, denies any involvement in
Benazir Bhutto's death.
Maulana Omar said on Saturday: "He [Mehsud] had no
involvement in this attack. This is a conspiracy of
the government, army and intelligence agencies."
A Pakistani official had said on Friday it had
evidence that Mehsud was responsible for the death of
Bhutto, a former prime minister.
Javed Cheema, an interior ministry spokesman, said:
"We have intelligence intercepts indicating that
al-Qaeda leader Baitullah Mehsud is behind her
assassination."
The claim was made as Bhutto was buried in her
ancestral village in the province of Sindh against a
backdrop of continued violence, with the death toll
from disturbances rising to 31.
Cheema also said Bhutto died from injuries caused by
hitting her head on her car's sunroof as she came
under fire, rather than from bullet wounds or
shrapnel.
Contrary account
Contradicting the official account, a close Bhutto
aide told the media on Saturday that she saw a bullet
wound in the head when she bathed Bhutto's body after
her assassination.
"I was actually part of the party which bathed her
body before the funeral," said Sherry Rehman, who
served as Bhutto's spokeswoman and who was in the
motorcade at the time of the attack.
"There was a bullet wound I saw that went in from the
back of her head and came out the other side.
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"We could not even wash her properly because the wound
was still seeping. She lost a huge amount of blood."
Rehman said: "The hospital was made to change its
statement. They never gave a proper report. ...
"This is ridiculous, dangerous nonsense because it is
a cover-up of what actually happened."
Earlier reports said Bhutto was gunned down by an
assassin.
The assassin then blew himself up in an attack that
killed a total of 16 people at the end of an election
campaign rally in Rawalpindi on Thursday.
While pointing the finger at al-Qaeda, Cheema said
Mehsud was also behind a suicide attack on a Bhutto
rally in October that left 140 dead.
Pakistani authorities say Mehsud is based in the
tribal region of South Waziristan.
'Pack of lies'
Cheema's claim that Bhutto's death was not caused by
bullet wounds but by head injuries was described as "a
pack of lies" by an aide of the slain politician.
Farooq Naik, a senior official in Bhutto's Pakistan
People's Party (PPP), said: "Two bullets hit her, one
in the abdomen and one in the head.
"It is an irreparable loss and they are turning it
into a joke with such claims. The country is heading
towards civil war."
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Farhatullah Babar, a another PPP spokesman, said on
Saturday: "The story that al-Qaida or Baitullah Mehsud
did it appears to us to be a planted story, an
incorrect story, because they want to divert the
attention."
He said Bhutto had earlier told the government of
"elements" other than al-Qaida that she thought could
be a threat to her, but officials never investigated.
Kamal Hyder, Al Jazeera's Pakistan correspondent, said
people were asking why the car in which Bhutto was
travelling was not damaged by the fatal attack.
"A lot of people in Pakistan believe there may be some
kind of conspiracy behind the assassination," he said.
Questions have also been raised as to why the scene of
the attack that killed Bhutto was hosed down by the
authorities soon after the blast, a move that may have
destroyed valuable evidence.
Earlier on Friday, hundreds of thousands of mourners
gathered for Bhutto's funeral in front of the
mausoleum in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh, a village 5km from
the Bhutto home in the town of Naudero in Larkana
district.
Grieving supporters
Supporters arrived by tractors, buses, cars and jeeps
that were parked in dusty fields surrounding the
mausoleum - a vast, marble structure.
Weeping in grief and chanting slogans against figures
in the pro-government political party, they formed
into hundreds of rows for the funeral prayers.
Hundreds attended Bhutto's funeral at the
family mausoleum at Larkana in Sindh
Asif Ali Zardari, Bhutto's husband, accompanied the
closed coffin draped with the PPP's green, red and
black tricolour as it began the 7km journey by
ambulance.
Some protesters chanted defiance: "No matter how many
Bhuttos you will kill, a Bhutto will emerge from each
house."
Bhutto had returned to Pakistan from Dubai in October,
ending more than eight years of self-imposed exile
after reaching an understanding with Pervez Musharraf,
the Pakistan president.
The 54-year-old Bhutto had been hoping to lead the PPP
to victory in the January 8 parliamentary election,
having been prime minister twice before.
She survived a suicide-bomb attack during her
homecoming procession in Karachi that left about 140
supporters dead.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
---------------
Jusfiq Hadjar gelar Sutan Maradjo Lelo
Allah yang disembah orang Islam tipikal dan yang digambarkan oleh al-Mushaf itu
dungu, buas, kejam, keji, ganas, zalim lagi biadab hanyalah Allah fiktif.
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