> Benazir spares Mush, 'names' 3 suspects

New delhi: It could be the work of al-Qaeda — that is the interim report of agencies investigating the assassination attempt on former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who returned to the country on Thursday. The report says that there is no lapse on the part of the police, but Benazir hinted otherwise.

"While I am not blaming the government for this assassination or the attacks on me at this stage, we still need to have an enquiry as to why the street lights had been shut," she said in a statement on Friday.

Benazir has narrowed down the list of suspects who could have set off the two deadly blasts during her homecoming procession, also hinting at official involvement.

"I have named three people in that letter which I wrote to General Musharraf with view to the attacks which took place on Thursday," she said.

The interim report of the Sindh Police names only al-Qaeda as the suspect. It absolves the Sindh Police and security services of any lapse.
However, Benazir has reason to be wary of the interim report. Her family has suffered at the hands of the security services.

Her father, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was hanged on the orders of Gen Zia-ul-Haq in 1979.

The mysterious death of her younger brother Shahnawaz, in Paris in 1985, happened under circumstances never really explained.

And her elder brother, Murtaza was shot and killed by the police outside their Bilawal residence in Karachi in 1996 when Benazir was prime minister.

Thursday's attack came dangerously close to succeeding. The bomb was triggered just 15 feet from where Benazir and key partymen were.

Benazir says that the entire party's leadership could have been wiped out if the assailants had got the intended target.

"I am grateful to the Almighty Allah for protecting me, for protecting the leadership of the Pakistan's Peoples Party which was on the truck with me," she said.

Benazir has demanded the resignation of ISI Chief, Gen Nadeem Taj, a Musharraf confidant. Earlier, she demanded that the Chief of the Intelligence Bureau be sacked. Even her husband, Asif Zardari pointed a finger at the intelligence agencies.

"They made a direct attack on Pakistan's Peoples Party, I shall make a direct attack on them. It's definitely this government which is responsible. They are responsible for every Pakistani and they should hold fort for that and should be held responsible for that. Why is it that the so called terrorists do not take on the present government? After all, it is the present government which is acting against them or not acting against them. Why would they target a party which is yet to come to power?" he said.

The threat to Benazir is also from Pakistan's lawless frontier region, now increasingly under the influence of pro-Taliban and al-Qaeda groups. Her repeated statements against jihadis and the need to shut down terror camps has fanned the anger of the fundamentalists.

First a statement attributed to pro-Taliban leader Beitullah Mehsud threatened suicide attacks on her. His subsequent denial was followed by another threat delivered by Taliban leader Haji Mir. He warned that Benazir's return would signal her joining the US-led war against the Taliban.

With pro-Islamist army officers reportedly joining hands with Taliban groups, Benazir is besieged from within and without.

Musharraf has promised to hunt down the conspirators, but the enemy seems everywhere. Benazir's life hangs by the slenderest of threads.