Woman Killer or Killers ???

The image showed a
suspected gunman
(in sunglasses)
and suspected suicide
bomber (in white scarf)
near Benazir Bhutto's
vehicle in Rawalpindi.

The Thursday assassination of charismatic opposition leader Benazir Bhutto had cast many ?????. Meanwhile, a furious exchange of claims and counter-claims over responsibility for Benazir's assassination erupted between President Pervez Musharraf's government and Pakistan People's Party.

The interior ministry laid the blame solely on Al Qaeda and Taliban militants by pointing finger to a well-known commander from the country's tribal region of South Waziristan. The commander, Baitullah Mehsud, had denied that he or his forces had anything to do with the attack. Spokesman for Mehsud said, "It is against tribal tradition and custom to attack a woman."

Authorities initially said Benazir died from bullet wound. A surgeon who treated her later said the cause of her death was the impact from shrapnel on her skull. Another version of the incident, she was killed when the shockwaves from the bomb smashed her head into the sunroof as she tried to duck back inside the vehicle.

End of an Illustrious Dynasty

The assassination of Pakistan opposition leader, former prime minister and life chairperson of Pakistan Peoples Party, Benazir Bhutto had brought a tragic end to an illustrious dynasty in Pakistan.The mishap happened on Thursday, December 27, 2007 in a gun and bomb attack as she left an election campaign rally in the city of Rawalpindi. Benazir Bhutto, 54, died in hospital in Rawalpindi after being shot in the head.

Her tragic end resembles in many ways of the Kennedy's family in America. President John F.Kennedy was assassinated in the 60's and most of his family members met a violent death. Like the Nehru Gandhi family that has long been a force in the politics of India, saw the tragic death of Indira Gandhi who was killed by her guards when she was the prime minister of India. Her two sons Sanjay, who died in a plane crash in 1980 and later Rajiv, who died in a suicide attack in early 90s.

The late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged after a controversial supreme court judgment, and all his three children met violent deaths. Bhutto's two sons, Murtaza and Shahnawaz died prematurely too. Shahnawaz was the first to die after the death of his father when he was poisoned in France, allegedly by his Afghan wife. Murtaza was murdered in cold blood in a strange police shoot out near his house in Clifton on September 20, 1996. Benazir was then the prime minister but saw it happening helplessly. Murtaza's widow, Lebanon-born Ghinva lives with her daughter Fatima and son Zulfikar in the house which Murtaza had inherited from his father.

As a young girl, Benazir was brilliant public speaker and even conducted television programmes when he father was in power in the 70s. The programme on Pakistan's foreign policy was instant hit with the viewers for its critical expose.

Benazir Bhutto Assassinated

Yesterday, a former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto was assassinated by a suicide assailant and also detonated a bomb that killed himself and 20 others at an election rally campaign in Rawalpindi.

Earlier Benazir returned to Pakistan in the face of death threats from Islamist millitants. Within 24 hours of landing in Karachi on October 18, she narrowly ascaped with her life when two bombs were detonated near her motorcade, killing at least 130 people.