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Pak govt says
Bhutto death accidental, makes U-turn later
Islamabad: In a dramatic U-turn, the Pakistan government "apologised"
for claiming earlier that former premier Benazir Bhutto died of a
skull fracture after hitting the sunroof of her car during a suicide
attack.
Caretaker Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz Khan has asked the media and
people to "forgive and ignore" comments made by his ministry's
spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema which were slammed by her Pakistan
People's Party as "lies" and led to an uproar at home and abroad.
The Interior Minister made the apology during a briefing for
Pakistani newspaper editors on Monday.
Punjab province on Tuesday issued a front-page advertisement in
newspapers that offered a reward of Rs 1 crore for information about
a gunman and a suspected suicide bomber seen in the photos and video
footage of the assassination.
The government's apparent damage control exercise on Cheema's
comments made at a news conference a day after Bhutto was
assassinated at Liaquat Bagh in Rawalpindi on December 27, came
after TV channels aired privately shot photos and video footage
which showed a gunman shooting at Bhutto.
The Pakistan People's Party leader is seen in the footage falling
through the sun-roof before the suicide bomber detonated his
explosives.
The briefing by caretaker Prime Minister Mohammedmian Soomro was
also attended by the foreign, interior and information ministers and
senior officials.
"Editor after editor lambasted the government for its non-serious
attitude towards the tragedy, specially the statement that Bhutto
had died by hitting the lever and not (due to) a bullet or
shrapnel," The News reported.
During the briefing, an editor asked why spokesman Cheema had said
that a lever on the sun-roof had caused a fatal injury when the
manufacturers of the car and Bhutto's husband Asif Ali Zardari had
stated that there was no metallic lever that could have caused the
wound.
Khan said the spokesman's comments may have been a mistake as "we
are faujis (soldiers) and we are not so articulate to present our
views as you journalists can".
Both the interior minister and spokesman Cheema are retired army
officers.
"I am sorry if that happened and please forgive us and ignore the
comment," he told the editors.
Earlier, Prime Minister Soomro tried to defend the interior
ministry's spokesman, saying he was just relaying facts that had
been told to him, especially about the cause of death.
"We are conducting an investigation and all TV footage, all
evidence, that would be available will help in reaching a definite
conclusion," Soomro told teh editors.
But the editors asked more questions, especially with reference to
the medical report of doctors of Rawalpindi General Hospital who
treated Bhutto.
They "emphatically pointed out that the report quoted by the
spokesman never mentioned the cause of the head injury" to Bhutto.
The report only said there was a skull fracture that caused
cardio-pulmonary arrest, the editors pointed out.
Soomro then referred the issue to Interior Minister Khan. He
explained in detail the security measures taken and asserted that
Bhutto had a bulletproof vehicle which could not be damaged by a
bomb or bullets.
Once she was inside it, she was secure and police vans were trying
to keep her car clear of other vehicles. But when she emerged from
the sun-roof she exposed herself to an attack, Khan said.
"Nothing would have happened to her even if every one in the world
had wanted to hurt her," the Minister added.
Soomro was repeatedly asked whether he would allow a foreign
investigation into the murder but he asserted that Pakistani experts
were competent to do the job.
His denial raised questions from the editors about the offer made by
President Pervez Musharraf to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to
consider foreign help in probing the assassination.
Meanwhile, the advertisement issued by Punjab's Home Ministry
included two photos of the suspected assailant and the severed head
of the suspected bomber.
"The public is hereby informed that the two individuals in the above
photographs are the accused terrorists in the Liaquat Bagh,
Rawalpindi terror attack, which resulted in the death of Mohtarma
Benazir Bhutto and others," it said.
"The government of Punjab has announced a cash award of Rs 1 crore
for lead information and any solid evidence."
The advertisement said the names of persons providing any
information would be kept "strictly confidential". It also sought
the cooperation of the people for "dismantling of terrorist
network".
2 January 2008
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