RAWALPINDI (Pakistan): Pemimpin parti pembangkang Pakistan, Benazir
Bhutto ditembak mati ketika beliau meninggalkan kempen pilihan raya di
Rawalpindi, semalam.
Kematiannya itu menyebabkan pilihan raya
dijadual 8 Januari ini mungkin ditangguhkan dan menimbulkan kemarahan
penduduk di tempat asalnya, Sindh.
Jurucakap Parti Rakyat Pakistan (PPP), Rehman Malik mengesahkan beliau terbunuh dalam serangan itu.
Benazir, 54, meninggal dunia di hospital di Rawalpindi. Stesen televisyen Ary-One melaporkan beliau ditembak di kepala.
Tragedi
ini, 13 hari sebelum pilihan raya yang diharap Benazir mampu
dimenanginya menimbulkan persoalan besar terhadap kemampuan Pakistan
untuk membendung keganasan yang dilakukan kumpulan militan.
Presiden
Pervez Musharraf mungkin memutuskan untuk menangguhkan pilihan raya dan
melaksanakan undang-undang darurat yang dibatal 15 Disember lalu.
“Tragedi
ini menimbulkan keraguan terhadap pilihan raya dan menyebabkan
kebimbangan tindakbalas kerajaan terhadap reaksi rakyat. Ada
kemungkinan penyokongnya akan mengadakan demonstrasi dan kerajaan sukar
membendungnya tanpa memikirkan untuk melaksanakan perintad darurat,”
kata Pengarah Jabatan Hal Ehwal Asia di Control Risks, London, Jennifer
Harbison.
Polis mendakwa pengebom berani mati menembak Benazir ketika beliau meninggalkan kawasan kempen sebelum meletupkan dirinya.
“Penyerang
menembak kenderaan Benazir. Benazir dilihat menundukkan kepalanya dan
ketika itulah lelaki itu meletupkan bom,” kata pegawai polis, Mohammad
Shahid.
Saksi mendakwa mendengar dua tembakan sebelum letupan berlaku.
Saksi turut berkata, cebisan tubuh bertaburan di jalan raya di luar kawasan kempennya selepas letupan itu.
Polis melaporkan 16 terbunuh dalam letupan itu manakala ramai lagi cedera, termasuk jurucakap Benazir, Sherry Rehman.
“Serangan
ini adalah usaha memecahbelah Pakistan kerana Benazir adalah lambang
kesatuan rakyat negara ini. Mereka adalah musuh Pakistan dan kini
mereka telah melenyapkan pembabitan keluarga Bhutto,” kata pemimpin
kanan PPP, Farzana Raja.
Ini adalah serangan kedua ke atas
Benazir selepas perarakan menyambut kepulangannya 19 Oktober lalu di
Karachi turut dibom menyebabkan kira-kira 150 penyokong terbunuh.
Namun, Benazir akur terhadap risiko itu dan bersedia menghadapinya demi membantu memulihkan Pakistan. - Reuters
Dalam ucapannya ketika kempen terakhirnya, beliau menegaskan bersedia menghadapi bahaya demi negaranya.
“Ramai yang bimbang tapi kami akan bantu Pakistan keluar dari krisis ini,” tegasnya.
Islamist militants were blamed for that attack but Bhutto had said she was prepared to face the danger to help the country.
Speaking on Thursday, Bhutto had told of the risks she faced.
“I
put my life in danger and came here because I feel this country is in
danger. People are worried. We will bring the country out of this
crisis,” Bhutto told the Rawalpindi rally.
Bhutto’s father,
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was Pakistan’s first popularly elected prime
minister. He was executed in Rawalpindi in 1979 after being deposed in
a military coup.
TEARS, SHOTS People cried and hugged each other outside the hospital where she died. Some shouted anti-Musharraf slogans.
Another former prime minister and opposition leader, Nawaz Sharif, spoke to the crowd.
“My heart is bleeding and I’m as grieved as you are,” Sharif said.
On international financial markets, gold and government bonds rose while U.S. stocks fell in part on news of the assassination.
Analysts
say the shock of the Bhutto news triggered a classic capital flight to
assets which are considered as safe havens in times of geopolitical
stress.
Bhutto became the first female prime minister in the
Muslim world when she was elected in 1988 at the age of 35. She was
deposed in 1990, re-elected in 1993, and ousted again in 1996 amid
charges of corruption and mismanagement.
She said the charges were politically motivated but in 1999 chose to stay in exile rather than face them.
Bhutto’s family is no stranger to violence.
Apart
from her father’s execution, both of her brothers died in mysterious
circumstances and she had said al Qaeda assassins tried to kill her
several times in the 1990s.
Intelligence reports have said al Qaeda, the Taliban and Pakistani jihadi groups had all sent suicide bombers after her.
Subject: BENAZIR BHUTTO MATI DITEMBAK.. 
29/12/2007, 1:08 pm
