World leaders voiced outrage at the assassination on Thursday of Pakistan’s opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and expressed fears for the fate of the nuclear-armed state.
United States President George Bush condemned the killing as a ”cowardly act” and urged Pakistanis to press ahead with a planned national election. Russia’s top Asia diplomat said the assassination would ”trigger a wave of terrorism”.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy called it odious.
”France, like the European Union, is particularly attached to stability and democracy in Pakistan,” he said in a letter to Pakistan’s President, Pervez Musharraf.
She was shot in the neck before a suicide bomber blew himself up at a park in the northern city of Rawalpindi, killing about 20 people, after Bhutto had just addressed supporters.
”The subcontinent has lost an outstanding leader who worked for democracy and reconciliation in her country,” said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India, Pakistan’s giant neighbour and nuclear rival.
”The manner of her going is a reminder of the common dangers that our region faces from cowardly acts of terrorism and of the need to eradicate this dangerous threat.”
Pakistan was already a big global worry.
The US ally has been struggling to contain Islamist violence while Musharraf, whose popularity has slumped, only lifted a state of emergency on December 15 after six weeks.
Election
Bush urged Pakistanis to honour Bhutto’s memory by continuing with the democratic process and said those behind the attack must be brought to justice.
”The US strongly condemns this cowardly act by murderous extremists who are trying to undermine Pakistan’s democracy,” he told reporters at his Texas ranch.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Bhutto had risked everything to try and bring democracy to her country, of which Britain used to be the colonial ruler.
”The terrorists must not be allowed to kill democracy in Pakistan,” he said.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the assassination was a ”heinous crime” and an ”assault on stability” in Pakistan.
Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Union’s executive arm, the European Commission, said it was ”an attack against democracy and against Pakistan”.
Police said a suicide bomber fired shots at Bhutto (54) as she left the rally in a park in the city of Rawalpindi before blowing himself up. Police said 16 people died in the blast.
”It is a criminal act and is strongly condemned,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mohammad Ali Hosseini told state television in Pakistan’s neighbour. ”What Pakistan strongly needs now is calmness and the return of stability.”
A Vatican spokesperson said Pope Benedict had been informed, adding: ”It is difficult to see any glimmer of hope, peace, reconciliation in this country.”
‘Enormous explosion’
Several witnesses said they heard at least one shot before the blast, which tore off limbs. People ran in panic, screaming as they trampled over pieces of human flesh. Puddles of blood dotted the road.
”There was an enormous explosion, and then I saw body parts flying through the air,” said Mirza Fahin, a professor at a local college.
”When the dust cleared, I saw mutilated bodies lying in blood. I have never seen anything so horrible in my life — just parts of human beings, flesh, lying in the road.”
Unrest broke out in several areas as mobs of protesters torched buildings, trucks and shops, blocked roads and uprooted rail tracks. Two people were shot dead in rioting in the eastern city of Lahore and two were killed in southern Sindh province.
Musharraf, who announced three days of national mourning, urged people to remain peaceful ”so that the evil designs of terrorists can be defeated”, state television reported.
The Interior Ministry said police and paramilitary forces across Pakistan had been placed on the highest ”red alert” level.
There was no claim of responsibility for the attack, but Bhutto had in the past accused elements in the intelligence services of trying to kill her.
She also said she had received death threats from Islamic militant groups, including al-Qaeda. — Reuters, AFP