HRCP blasts attack on Benazir’s convoy
LAHORE, Oct 19: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan on Friday condemned the attack on Benazir Bhutto’s convoy in Karachi, describing it as one of the most horrible incidents of terrorism in the country’s history.
The condemnation came through a statement issued here by HRCP Secretary-General Iqbal Haider.
Earlier, Mr Haider was scheduled to hold a news conference to announce the HRCP’s decision to honour the country’s lawyers and Supreme Court Bar Association President Muneer A Malik, but it was cancelled owing to the incident in Karachi.
In his statement, he said not only the PPP chairperson but the party’s entire command was the target of the perpetrators of the outrage.
That they had a miraculous escape had caused a sigh of relief, but the grief and shock at the loss of over 130 lives would weigh heavy on each conscious Pakistani’s conscience for long.
He said those who plotted the massacre were not the enemies of Benazir Bhutto or the PPP, or democracy alone. They were the worst enemies of Pakistan and whatever precious had been left of its tradition of tolerance and openness.
Attempts to dismiss the blasts as the work of suicide bomber(s) would only inflame passions among the aggrieved, he said, calling for a high-level probe into the incident.
He said apart from the hands involved in planting and detonating explosives close to Ms Bhutto’s vehicle, the investigators must expose the elements whose traditional hostility to democracy was known and who could not bear even a rare sight of democratic festivity.
Mr Haider said the gravity of the situation called for all Pakistanis of goodwill to ponder the national agenda.
The present regime’s incapacity to deal with terrorism needed no further proof and while there was no need to avoid elections, the present demanded the greatest possible unity among the people and immediate formation of a national government capable of fighting terrorism without depriving the people of democratic governance and the enjoyment of human rights, he said.
Source: Dawn
Date:10/20/2007
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