December
31, 2007 Will Autopsy on
Benazir's Body Become Necessary? By Muhammad Najeeb
Islamabad
The body of Pakistan's slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto
may need to be exhumed for an autopsy if the government allows
international experts to institute a probe into her assassination.
Bhutto died after gunshots and a suicide bombing Thursday evening
following a public rally at Rawalpindi's Liaquat Bagh. Though there
was no autopsy carried out on her body, the procedure might become
necessary now with her Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) demanding a
probe by an international team of investigators.
"No investigation will be possible without an autopsy of the body,"
said an official here, adding that the government was in touch with
international experts who insist on an "expert autopsy report" to
start investigations.
President Pervez Musharraf had said Sunday said that the government
would consider a probe by international experts as the PPP had
announced a three-member team to talk to the UN to force its hand to
do so.
The government has also said it was ready to exhume the body if the
PPP agrees to it. Officials said no post mortem was conducted
because her husband Asif Ali Zardari.
Zardari gave his reason to journalists at a press conference in
Larkana on Sunday: "I know the way hospitals treat body while
conducting the post mortem, I did not want desecration of wife."
The question of autopsy has gained importance with the mystery
around the assassination deepening.
Government spokesperson Javed Iqbal Cheema has been saying that
Bhutto died after fracturing her head with the sunroof lever of her
Toyota Land Cruiser. But the eyewitnesses and PPP leaders say she
was hit by a bullet before falling into the jeep.
One eyewitness, Asif Ali, said he saw the gunman aiming and shooting
at Bhutto.
"I was a couple of meters away from the vehicle when I saw gunman
aiming and shooting at Benazir Bhutto. He was a clean-shaven man in
his 30s," Ali, a resident of downtown Rawalpindi, told IANS.
Pakistani television channels have also played new images providing
evidence that she was fired upon thrice. The video filmed by an
unknown person shows Bhutto visible from the sunroof of her Land
Cruiser among a few hundred supporters after addressing the rally.
A clean-shaven man with sunglasses is shown with his hand in his
pocket. The man is followed by a person with a white shawl,
suspected to be the suicide bomber who blew himself seconds later.
The sniper moves closer to the vehicle and fires three shots while
Bhutto is waving to the crowd.
Three gunshots can be clearly heard followed by the sound of the
blast, which killed 20 people.
As the gunman fires, Bhutto can be seen falling inside the vehicle
through the sunroof.
Bhutto's close associate Sherry Rehman, who supervised the last bath
on Bhutto's body, said that she saw very clear marks of bullet on
her head. Zardari also told reporters that his doctor sister saw the
bullet wounds on her head.
Political analysts here say that the government has tailored the
sunroof lever story to cover up the massive security failure.
The surgeon who treated Bhutto Thursday evening first said she was
shot twice in the head and neck. But the next day the hospital
changed its earlier statement saying no bullet wounds were found in
her head.
Bhutto's political secretary Naheed Khan who was in the jeep
described the government claim as "stupid, ridiculous and dangerous
cover-up".
Boloji.com is owned and managed by Boloji Media Inc Privacy Policy |
Disclaimer
No part of this Internet site may
be reproduced without prior written permission of the copyright holder.
