Up to 125 killed as Bhutto convoy is attacked

BENAZIR BHUTTO’S return to Pakistan yesterday was marred by a bomb attack in which up to 125 people, including 20 police officers, are reported to have been killed.

Two bombs hit crowds greeting Ms Bhutto as she was being driven in a convoy through crowded streets from Karachi Airport.

She was returning after eight years of exile to reclaim a share of power with the country’s US-backed military leader. More than 150,000 jubilant supporters gathered to greet her amid massive security.

Ms Bhutto, who is expected to seek the premiership for an unprecedented third time and partner in ruling Pakistan with President Gen Pervez Musharraf, was in tears as she descended the steps of a commercial flight that brought her from Dubai to Karachi, where crowds of flag-waving, supporters waited to give her a rousing welcome.

“I counted the hours, I counted the minutes and the seconds, just to see this land, to see the grass, to see the sky. I feel so emotionally overwhelmed,” said Ms Bhutto. “And I hope that I can live up to the great expectations people have.”

She said she was fighting for democracy and to help this nuclear-armed country of 160 million people defeat the extremism that gave it the reputation as a hotbed of international terrorism.

“That’s not the real image of Pakistan. The people that you see outside are the real image of Pakistan. These are the decent and hardworking middle classes and working classes of Pakistan who want to be empowered so they can build a moderate, modern nation,”

Ms Bhutto, 54, fled Pakistan in the face of corruption charges in 1999. It would take a constitutional amendment for her to be prime minister again — Pakistani law bars leaders from seeking a third term.

Authorities have mounted a massive security operation to protect her from possible attack by militants. Yet, hundreds of buses and other vehicles festooned with billboards welcoming her back were parked bumper-to-bumper along the boulevard from the airport to the city centre. A huge red, green and black flag of her Pakistan People’s Party hung from one apartment block overlooking the route. Supporters, including representatives of Pakistan’s minority Christian and Hindu communities and Baluch tribesmen with flowing white turbans, walked toward the airport, while groups of men performed traditional dances, beat drums or shook maracas along the way.

Azad Bhatti, a 35-year-old poultry farmer from the southern city of Hyderabad, said he had “blind faith” in Ms Bhutto’s leadership. “When Benazir Bhutto is in power there is no bomb blast, because she provides jobs and there is no frustration among the people. Whatever she thinks is for the betterment of people.”

Ms Bhutto paved her route back in negotiations with President Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup. Mr Musharraf, whose popularity has waned as violence by Islamic radicals has risen, is promising to give up his command of Pakistan’s powerful army if he secures a new term.

The talks have yielded an amnesty covering the corruption cases that made Ms Bhutto leave Pakistan in the first place, and could see the arch-rivals team up to fight al-Qaida and the Taliban.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz welcomed Ms Bhutto’s return, saying it would improve the political and help democracy to “flourish.”

Mr Musharraf, who had urged Ms Bhutto to delay while he dealt with legal challenges to his continued rule, stayed silent, and Information Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani claimed her rally was a flop. “It is the PPP workers’ response and not the public response and even the workers’ response is much less than what she was expecting,” he said.