Islamabad
The Pakistan government has retracted its contention that former
prime minister Benazir Bhutto died after striking her head against
the sunroof lever of her SUV and has "apologized" for floating the
theory.
"The caretaker government of Prime Minister Mohammedmian Soomro
Monday apologized for the highly provocative comment made by the
interior ministry spokesman that Bhutto died because she hit the
lever of her bullet-proof Land Cruiser on the fateful (Dec 27)
evening," The News reported Tuesday.
At a briefing for newspaper editors from all over the country,
Interior Minister Lt. Gen. (retd) Hamid Nawaz asked the media and
the people to "forgive and ignore" the comment by ministry spokesman
Brig (retd) Javed Cheema.
Cheema's comment caused a huge uproar as private TV channels
obtained footage showing the assassin pointing and firing a gun at
Bhutto. She is then shown collapsing into the vehicle. It is only
later that a suicide bomber blows up at the site in Rawalpindi,
causing mayhem and killing at least 20 people.
"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 by a bullet or shrapnel," the
newspaper said.
Soomro first tried to defend Cheema, saying he was just relating the
facts that had been presented 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 maintained.
"But the issue did not subside. More questions were asked with
reference to the medical report of Rawalpindi doctors and it was
emphatically pointed out that the report quoted by the spokesman
never mentioned the cause of the head injury to Bhutto. It only said
there was a head injury with a broken skull that caused
cardio-pulmonary arrest," The News said.
Soomro then referred the issue to the interior minister, who
explained in detail the security measures that were taken and
asserted that Bhutto had a bullet- proof vehicle that could not be
damaged by any bomb or bullet.
Once Bhutto was inside the vehicle, Nawaz stated, she was secure and
police vans were trying to keep her vehicle clear of other vehicles.
But when she emerged from the sunroof, she exposed herself to an
attack.
"Nothing would have happened to her even if everyone in the world
had wanted to hurt her (if she had not come out)," Nawaz maintained.
"An editor again questioned why Cheema had overstepped by saying
that a car lever had killed her when the manufacturers of the car
and (husband) Asif Ali Zardari had stated that there was no metallic
lever which could have caused the wound to her head. The medical
report also did not mention any such cause of death," The News said.
"Then the interior minister said the spokesman's comments may have
been a mistake as 'we are faujis (soldiers) and we are not so
articulate in presenting our views as you journalists can. I am
sorry if that happened and please forgive us and ignore the
comment', Nawaz told the editors."
Soomro was asked whether he would allow a foreign investigation into
the murder but he continued to assert that Pakistani experts were
fully competent to do the job.
"His continuous denials raised questions about the offer made by
President (Pervez) Musharraf to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown
that foreign help (to probe the killing) could be welcomed by
Pakistan," The News said.
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