New Delhi: Former Pakistan prime minister and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Benazir Bhutto on Friday addressed the media for the first time after Thursday night’s blast and gave a minute by minute account of the incident.
The former PM condemned the bomb explosion on the convoy that killed 140 people and injured several after her arrival at Karachi, and thanked God for protecting her.
“People who planned my assassination are not Muslims. No Muslim would do such a thing,” she said.
“I'm pained to know that a number of policemen died in the line of duty,” she added.
The blasts came at the end of a long day that saw tens of thousands of supporters give Benazir a rapturous welcome at Karachi airport upon her arrival from Dubai amid heavy security. Some 20,000 security personnel had been deployed to protect Benazir.
“While I'm not blaming the government for the attack at the moment, but waiting for the enquiry report, I want to know why the streetlights were shut off during the procession,” Benazir asked.
“If streetlights had been on, our security guards would have spotted the suicide bombers. We were scanning the crowds with floodlights then. But it was difficult to monitor the crowds due to darkness,” she informed.
The PPP leader, who had been living in exile in Dubai since 1998, was traveling on a truck equipped with a bulletproof glass cubicle to the tomb of Pakistan's founding father, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, to give a speech when terror struck.
“I didn't want senior party leader with me on the truck because I knew there could be an attack and the entire party leadership could have been wiped out,” she said.
Benazir, who had been going through her speech in the truck when the bomb went off also said that the truck came to a halt after shots were fired at it.
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“I don't know if there was a deliberate attempt to stop the truck and the driver. We're investigating that,” she said.
While she avoided blaming the General Pervez Musharraf regime directly for the attack, she relived the anxious moments in detail after the blast.
“I know who my attackers are. They are cowards. They cannot face the people of Pakistan,” said Benazir.
“I gave the names of suspected attackers to Musharraf in a letter. Insiders have told me, that not the Pakistan government but some elements in it are responsible. I believe that the next attack will be by people planted in the police in Karachi, Larkana,” she added.
Benazir also said that she was consulting her lawyers about naming the people who she suspects made an attempt on my life.
“I will reveal their names after legal consultation,” she said.
The former Pakistan PM was unhurt, narrowly escaping with her life after climbing down into the interior of her vehicle just moments before the bomb and a grenade ripped through the police escort.
Meanwhile, her party has vowed that she would stay in Pakistan to fight general elections in January, seen as a key step to returning the nuclear-armed nation of some 160 million people to civilian rule.
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