Bhutto party to discuss Pakistani ruling coalition's fate

Islamabad - The party of slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was set Wednesday to decide whether to accept the resignations of cabinet members from a major partner in Pakistan's ruling coalition.

The decision will be taken in the meeting of the Central Executive Committee and Federal Council of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), which is now headed by Bhutto's widower Asif Ali Zardari.

"Mr Zardari will make an announcement to this regard after the meeting tonight," said party spokesman Farhatullah Babar.

Nine ministers from Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) handed in their resignations to the Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Tuesday but he refused to accept them, in a bid to make last-ditch efforts to save coalition from disintegration.

The PPP and PML-N formed an alliance after thrashing the political backers of President Pervez Musharraf in February 18 parliamentary elections.

But they developed differences over how to restore more than 60 judges, including chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, Musharraf sacked under an emergency order on November 3.

The move was made as the Supreme Court was expected to rule against his controversial presidential re-election for the second five-year term.

Sharif pressed for unconditional reinstatement of judges through a parliamentary resolution, followed by an executive order.

Zardari, on the other hand, has proposed a reform package limiting the judge's powers, especially those of independent-minded justice Chaudhry, who has repeatedly challenged Musharraf through his judicial activism.

Zardari believes Chaudhry's restoration with full powers could lead to a head-on-head collision between the government and president, triggering one more political crisis in the country, a key US ally in the fight against terrorism.

Unable to abridge the differences, the two leaders missed a revised, self-imposed deadline to reinstate the judges on Monday, a day after their two-day talks ended with an impasse over the issue in London.

This prompted an announcement from Sharif that his party was withdrawing its ministers from the six-week-old cabinet. However, he pledged to continue supporting the PPP-led government on issue-to- issue basis.

Analysts opine that despite Sharif's offer for continuing cooperation, the PPP-led government would from now on stand on shaky ground if the PML-N minister's resignations are accepted, further increasing the political uncertainty the country is currently facing.

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Pakistan to ask UN for Bhutto probe 'very soon': Qureshi

Pakistan will soon submit a formal request to the United Nations for a probe into the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Thursday.

“The letter of request is ready and it has been decided that the law minister and I will carry the letter with us and deliver it to the UN Secretary General,” Qureshi told a news conference.

He said they were waiting for an official appointment with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, saying that the martyrdom of Benazir Bhutto had created confusion and that people were asking a lot of questions.

The way the matter was handled after her death has also created some confusion,” Qureshi said.

Federal Law Minister Farooq Naik said Pakistan wanted the probe to take the form of an international commission to ascertain the truth, point out culprits, financers and perpetrators of this crime.

Last month, Pakistan's National Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution calling for a United Nations probe into Bhutto’s assassination.

The move was not surprising given that Pakistan's new government and Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party and Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz dominate parliament.

Party members and Bhutto's family have repeatedly called for such an investigation since she was killed December 27 after a campaign rally in Rawalpindi.

The resolution calls for an international inquiry into the people behind the killing. Until now, President Pervez Musharraf has balked at calls for a United Nations inquiry. His government -- before it was ousted from power after parliamentary elections in February -- had contended that Baitullah Mehsud, who as leader of the Pakistani Taliban and has ties to Al Qaeda, orchestrated the killing.

The CIA reached the same conclusion. But two nationwide polls conducted this year found that a majority of Pakistanis believe Musharraf's government was complicit in Bhutto's assassination.

The cause of Bhutto's death is not clear. Her family has refused to carry out an autopsy.

Bhutto was standing in a moving armoured car after rallying supporters for the parliamentary elections. Her head was above the roof and unprotected at the time of the attack.

A bomber blew himself up near Bhutto's limousine, and videotape showed a gunman present.

Musharraf's government concluded that Bhutto was not shot but died when the force of a bomb blast slammed her head into an escape hatch on her SUV.

Detectives from Britain's Scotland Yard -- who assisted Pakistani authorities in coming up with a "precise cause" of death -- agreed with that assessment.

But Bhutto aide Sherry Rehman -- who had been riding in the car behind Bhutto's when it was attacked -- called the government's conclusion "the most bizarre, dangerous nonsense."

The former prime minister's husband, Asif Ali Zardari, has also called for an international and independent investigation, one under the auspices of the U. N.

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Pak govt formally requests UN to probe Benazir killing

After nearly five months of former Pakistan premier Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, the PPP-led Pakistan government has formally requested the United Nations to investigate her killing.

A formal note has been handed over to Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN Munir Akram who will hand it over to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asking for investigation.

“Akram has left for New York and will deliver the request soon,” the Dawn quoted a Foreign Office spokesman a saying.

Pakistan has urged the UN to form a commission to expose ‘perpetrators, financiers and the mastermind’ of the December 27 assassination through an independent and impartial investigation, added the paper.

The government said that it was seeking an international probe because it suspected an ‘international conspiracy’ behind the assassination and uncovering such a conspiracy was ‘beyond the capacity of local investigators’.

Earlier, the government had planned to send a delegation to the UN, but because of some difficulties, it decided to ask its permanent representative at the UN to submit the request. “The secretary-general’s office proposed certain dates, but the foreign minister had other commitments,” said the FO statement.
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Pak rejects Indian journo’s claim that Benazir Bhutto smuggled nuclear data to N Korea in 1993

The Pakistan embassy in Washington has rejected the claim revealed in a book written by India’s known journalist and writer Shyam Bhatia, that former Pakistan premier Benazir Bhutto had smuggled nuclear data to North Korea in 1993 during a visit to the country, and that she had confided the secret to him under the promise that he won’t reveal it in her lifetime.

“It is absurd and highly ridiculous. The book is written in a sensational style, the sourcing is weak,” said an embassy spokesman Nadeem Kiani.

“Why would a prime minister do such a thing and then disclose it to an Indian journalist knowing that Indian journalists are not known for their love for Pakistan?” the Dawn quoted him as saying.

“Bhatia has in the past also published speculative stories relating to Pakistan’s nuclear programme, the source of which has not always been authentic,” Kiani said and added it was not appropriate to soil the memory of Pakistan’s “icon of democracy”.

According to the book, “Goodbye, Shahzadi,” Benazir, while on a state visit to North Korea in 1993, smuggled critical data on uranium enrichment to help facilitate a missile deal with Pyongyang. The information could have been used to make a nuclear weapon, the report suggested.

The assertion is based on conversations that the author had with Bhutto in 2003, in which she said she would tell him a secret “so significant that I had to promise never to reveal it, at least not during her lifetime.”

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Benazir paid with her life for defying US

Former Pakistan premier Benazir Bhutto was killed because she didn’t stick to the deal which she struck with the US ensuring her return to Pakistan from her decade-long exile in London, the country’s former COAS Mirza Aslam Beg has said.

He said she was killed because of her anti-American policy.

Addressing the general house meeting of the Lahore Bar Association (LBA), Baig said Benazir had initially worked out a deal with US administration to return to Pakistan, but after judging the intensity of anti-Musharraf sentiment back home, she could not toe the US line.

“Now the US is dealing with Asif Ali Zardari to achieve its interests,” the Dawn quoted him as saying.

He said the lawyers should have their own political agenda for materialising their plans, suggesting them to form a coordination committee to communicate with political parties. The imposition of emergency on November 3 created problems, which were still dragging their feet, he said and added that though Musharraf was breathing the last of his political life, some quarters were still busy hatching conspiracies.

He said the mandate of the Feb 18 elections proved to be against the US interests in the region.

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Pak formally asks for UN probe in Benazir murder

Pakistan is learnt to have formally requested the United Nations to hold a high-level inquiry into the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Pakistan ambassador at the UN Munir Akram met UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon last evening and submitted a letter written by his country’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi requesting the world body to investigate the murder of the PPP leader on Dec 27 last year.

According to UN sources, Qureshi recalled the events in Pakistan which led to Bhutto’s assassination and subsequent resolutions by Pakistan’s national and provincial assemblies. They, however, refused to divulge any information about contents of the letter.

Later, Akram said that the UN chief had promised to respond to the request as soon as possible, but gave no timeline, reported the Dawn.

Confirming that the UN chief has received a letter in this regard, UN secretary general’s spokeswoman Michelle Montas said: “We are studying the letter”. She too refused to give any timeline on the response.

Earlier, it was reported that Ambassador Akram had opposed the request for a UN probe and is believed to have briefed PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari on the ‘consequences’ of such a move. He was supported by former foreign secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan, who was reportedly removed for his opposition to such a probe.

According to one scenario, the UN chief could order an investigation himself and appoint a commission. But, if he deems that a much wider investigation is required he could ask the UN Security Council to order the investigation, like the one it instituted in the case relating to assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri, in which the UN had spent over 45 million dollars without reaching any conclusion.

The United States which heads the UN Security Council for the month of June would have to submit the request to the 15-member council to make a decision on ordering any such an investigation.

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PPP refutes book claim that Benazir admitted to her role in N-black market

The PPP has strongly condemned the recent claim made in a book written by a London-based Indian journalist Shyam Bhatia that former Pakistan premier Benazir Bhutto had confided to him that she participated in the nuclear black market, and described it as a “despicable attempt to sell books”.

“The claim that Bhutto made such an acknowledgement to an obscure journalist is a tasteless exploitation of her tragic assassination,” said PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar.

Shyam Bhatia’s book “Goodbye Shahzadi” hit the stands two weeks ago.

Babar said that Benazir had been the architect of “Benazir Nuclear Doctrine” that strictly forbade exports of nuclear technology to any country. “The accusation that she spoke of her role in nuclear black market can either come from a deceased mind or from someone of a lowly stature in life who is desperate to get some attention,” the Daily Times quoted him as saying.

Babar further said the claims that author Shyam Bhatia kept in regular touch with her were preposterous and were made only to lend credibility to his false assertions. He said that last year the Indian author wanted a 10-minute face to face interview with her for what he claimed cover story of a magazine. “Can you get me 10 minutes with her,” he had asked in his e-mail of October 7, 2007 pleading, “most important of all if we cannot talk is to go over and take a picture of her.”

“Bhutto had refused to grant a face-to-face interview, declined to be photographed and even did not accede to the request for a telephonic interview because Bhatia’s standing and credentials did not warrant it,” he claimed.

Babar said that instead Bhatia was asked to send his written questions to the media office for answers that he did, and got replies to the questions from the office, and not directly from her. “There was not one question relating to the nuclear issue in the list of questions that were replied to on her behalf by the media office. So much for the claim of his being in regular contact with her,” he maintained.

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Benazir Bhutto eldest daughter Bakhtawar appointed as chief of PPP Women Wing

Former Pakistan premier Benazir Bhutto’s eldest daughter Bakhtawar Bhutto (17) has reportedly been appointed as the head of the PPP’s Women Wing, a post which her mother once held, before climbing up the political ladder to reach the top political post in Pakistan.

In a TV interview, Bakhtawar pledged to carry on her mother’s political legacy. “I definitely want to help people in Pakistan. I want to continue my mom’s mission in any way I can, whether it is politics or something else - I haven’t decided yet,” the Times Online quoted her as saying in the interview.

Wearing a plain white skirt and a beige jacket, she giggled throughout the interview, said the paper.

Bakhtawar, who goes to school in Dubai, said: “I am proud to think people see me as a role model. I’m a very confident speaker and I hope all women can do what they want. I was given the opportunity. I was privileged, as you know. I was born into the family that I am in, where everything I could have was my right. Everything was equal between me and my brother and there was no discrimination between the sexes.”

Her 19-year-old brother Bilawal, an Oxford undergraduate, was appointed co-chairman of the PPP along with Bhutto’s widower, Asif Ali Zardari, within days of the assassination and is widely seen as a future leader of the party.

“We have been brought up to equality and everything my brother was given, I was given. In education, we went to exactly the same schools, exactly the same teachers. Education for women is as important as for men because I believe we can all have the same jobs in life,” Bakhtawar told a Pakistani satellite news channel.

Although she has clearly inherited her mother’s self-confidence, Bakhtawar has yet to adopt her sense of style.

According to the paper, Bakhtawar’s appointment has led to speculation that she, rather than her brother, might be the next star of the Bhutto dynasty. Bakhtawar’s public reminder that she is Bilawal’s equal has also raised memories of the bitter sibling rivalry that divided the Bhuttos after the death of Benazir’s father.

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Airport, hospital, road to be named after Benazir Bhutto

The Pakistan government has decided to name an airport and a hospital in Islamabad and a road in Rawalpindi after the country’s former premier and PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto.

According to a statement issued by the prime minister’s secretariat, the Islamabad International Airport will now be called Benazir Bhutto International Airport, the Rawalpindi General Hospital (RGH) as Benazir Bhutto Hospital and Murree Road as Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Road.

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Pakistan remembers slain Bhutto on 55th anniversary

Islamabad - Supporters of Pakistan's slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto on Saturday observed her 55th birthday in ceremonies across the country.

"Martyred Bhutto is still alive. Even today, she stands with me, with you," her widower Asif Ali Zardari told a press conference after laying flowers at her grave and reciting verses from the Koran in her home town of Noudero.

Bhutto was assassinated in a gun and suicide attack on December 27 during an election rally in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, near capital Islamabad.

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