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Bhutto cancels plans to leave Pakistan amid rumors of state of emergency
The Associated Press
Wednesday, October 31, 2007 KARACHI, Pakistan:
Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto abruptly canceled plans to travel abroad Wednesday, saying she was afraid the Pakistani government would impose a state of emergency during her absence.
The opposition leader, who was targeted by suicide bombers when she returned home two weeks ago after spending eight years in exile, had been preparing to go to Dubai to visit her husband and three children.
She said at a hastily arranged press conference that members of her party heard President Gen. Pervez Musharraf could impose emergency measures if the Supreme Court ruled later this week that his recent election win was unconstitutional.
The government denied any such plot, which would be a serious setback to the country's planned transition from military to civilian rule. "No such measures are being considered at the moment," Deputy Information Minister Tariq Azim told The Associated Press. "Whatever the verdict, we will honor it." Though Musharraf pledged to quit the army before starting a new presidential term, he declined on election night to say whether he would accept a negative court verdict.
Many people fear he will not, choosing instead to impose emergency rule or martial law. "I wanted to go to Dubai ... but when these rumors surfaced, I decided to change my program," Bhutto said, urging all parties to abide by whatever decision judges handed down. "If a state of emergency is imposed, we will not accept it," she said. "If fundamental human rights are suspended, we will not accept it.
The nation will not accept it." Bhutto, who twice served as prime minister before going into exile to escape corruption charges, returned home on Oct. 18 so she could contest parliamentary elections, scheduled to be held by January.
Legions of supporters turned out to welcome her, but the celebrations were shattered when suicide bombers attacked her parade, killing at least 140 people and further threatening stability in nuclear-armed Pakistan. Bhutto said Wednesday the death toll had climbed to 158, with nearly 20 others still in critical condition, but it was not immediately possible to confirm those figures.
Islamic extremists fighting security forces near the border with Afghanistan were widely blamed for the bloody attack. Though the government vowed to expose those responsible, Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry expressed impatience Wednesday with an investigation that is under intense international scrutiny.
The Supreme Court said it will launch its own probe to ensure the "perpetrators of this barbaric act are brought to book, which will result in restoring the confidence of the nation in the system of governance." The activist chief justice has emerged as a key player in Pakistan's power struggle since Musharraf made a botched attempt to fire him in March.
After his reinstatement in July amid a clamor for an end to military rule, the court has taken up a string of high-profile issues, including whether Musharraf "” a key ally in the United States' war against terrorism "” can remain in power. Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup, won a landslide victory in the Oct. 6 presidential voting by lawmakers. But the Supreme Court says the result is not final until it rules on opposition complaints that Musharraf was ineligible because he retained his position as army chief.
The Supreme Court is also considering whether Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister Musharraf ousted eight years ago, should be allowed to return from exile to make a political comeback. Bhutto returned to Pakistan after Musharraf signed an amnesty to drop corruption cases against her and other politicians and bureaucrats "” amid expectation she and Musharraf could form a pro-Western alliance to counter Islamic extremism. "Our dialogue with the government was aimed at a transition to democracy and fair and free elections," Bhutto told reporters Wednesday, referring again to concerns about the state of emergency rumors. Bhutto also has accused hard-liners in the government and security forces of conspiring to kill her and criticized the police investigation into the deadly attack on her homecoming parade.
Her party has repeatedly called for foreign experts to assist the probe "” a demand rejected by the government, which insists it can solve the case on its own. Bhutto said Wednesday she was not surprised by the lack of arrests. "We didn't expect any progress ... we think there was an attempted cover up," she said. "Unless the militants are caught there will always be another attack." Police also were investigating a suicide attack near Musharraf's army office in the city of Rawalpindi that killed seven people Tuesday. They said surgeons had reconstructed the severed head of the bomber. In Swat, a mountain valley in the northwest, security forces battled with militants Wednesday, leaving up to 18 fighters dead, said Badshah Gul Wazir, home secretary or top civilian security official of the North West Frontier Province.
The region has been the scene of repeated clashes over the past week that has left over 100 dead. ___ Associated Press writer Stephen Graham contributed to this report from Islamabad.
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