Bhutto supporters want UN inquiry into her death

Supporters of assassinated Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto today called for a United Nations’ investigation into her death.

Ms Bhutto was killed on December 27 in a bombing and shooting attack outside a campaign rally.

The government blamed the attack on Islamic militants and brought in Scotland Yard officers to assist with their probe. But Ms Bhutto’s opposition party said only an independent investigation would have any credibility.

“This was not just a Pakistani issue, it is an issue that will reverberate not just in the region, it will reverberate in the world,” said a spokeswoman for the Pakistan People’s Party.

She said the government had failed to properly investigate the suicide bombing that targeted Ms Bhutto during her homecoming parade in the city of Karachi and killed about 150 people in October. That failure led to the successful attack, she said.

She demanded the UN Security Council authorise an investigation into the killing and the events leading up to it. She also reiterated accusations, denied by the government, that Ms Bhutto was not given the proper security.

“Why did the government not provide security to the most important woman in the whole world,” she said.

She also attacked the government’s decision to postpone planned parliamentary elections in the wake of days of rioting that followed Ms Bhutto’s killing, accusing the party of using the delay to rig the vote.

“The People’s Party condemns the delay in the election and will not tolerate any further move to delay it or hijack this election,” she said.

Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, head of another opposition party and a fierce critic of President Pervez Musharraf, called on the president to resign and to reinstate the judges he dismissed during a six-week state of emergency that ended last month. He also called for a national unity government to be formed to run the elections.

“If he stays in power then nobody can save the country from complete destruction. They are planning massive rigging in polls and I want to make it clear that this would be disastrous for Pakistan.”