Lawyers hold govt responsible for Benazir Bhutto’s killing

LAHORE: Lawyers have denounced the killing of PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto and have called her death a national tragedy. They have held the government responsible for the incident and have demanded that President Pervez Musharraf should step down, as he is a ‘security risk’ for Pakistan. Daily Times spoke to several prominent lawyers after Ms Bhutto’s death. Most of them said that if the government was not directly involved in her killing, it was definitely negligent in providing her security. They said the Musharraf regime had failed to maintain law and order in Pakistan. They said there was no point for the PPP to participate in the farcical elections. Hamid Khan, who is one of the leaders of the lawyers’ movement, called the killing an assassination, saying the government was responsible for Ms Bhutto’s death. He said that if the government could not arrange for adequate security in a city like Rawalpindi, which was a garrison town, it definitely could not keep the other cities secure. He said lawyers had been protesting against the Musharraf regime for a year. He said Ms Bhutto’s death was a great loss to democracy and that now the PPP should not participate in the elections. He also demanded a national government be set up with equal participation of all political parties, which would hold free and fair elections. He said the lawyers’ movement against the government would continue. PPP leader and People’s Lawyers Forum chairman Latif Khan Khosa, who was present at the bombing at Liaqat Bagh, told Daily Times that, “They have martyred her at last.” His son Khurram Khosa said the government was responsible for the killing. He said no political party was safe, as several Nawaz Sharif supporters were shot dead in Rawalpindi on the same day. He said no party should participate in the elections. Former PPP law minister SM Masood said that the chances of Sindh disintegrating into chaos or even breaking away from Pakistan would increase. Talking about the PPP’s survival without Ms Bhutto, he said he could not see anyone substituting for her. “Benazir’s demise could be the death knell for the PPP,” he added. staff report

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