Unrest continues in southern Pakistan after Bhutto attack

Oct 21, 2007, 12:09 GMT

Islamabad - Thousands of demonstrators Sunday held rallies across southern Pakistan for the third consecutive day to protest the killing of 140 people in a suicide attack on the ex-premier and opposition leader Benazir Bhutto in Karachi.

Most of the business centres, markets, and fuel stations were closed in the southern province of Sindh, a stronghold of Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), while in some cities angry protesters blocked roads, forcing traffic to remain off the road.

Police in Hyderabad, some 150 kilometres north-east of the provincial capital Karachi, booked two dozens stick-wielding PPP workers who were trying to force shopkeepers to close down shops.

Otherwise, in the remaining areas the strike was observed voluntarily in response to Bhutto's call for three days of mourning, starting from Friday.

In her first public appearance since the deadly attack, Bhutto expressed solidarity with more than a hundred injured bombing victims in Karachi's Jinnah hospital on Sunday afternoon. For security reasons the visit was kept completely secret.

'It was an act of sabotage,' she told reporters as dozens of heavily armed supporters and policemen guarded her. 'We will serve the nation while combating terrorism, she added.

Bhutto demanded that foolproof security be provided to all political leaders, especially those from the opposition.

More than 500 people were wounded in the two explosions that ripped through a procession Bhutto was leading after she arrived from Dubai, ending an eight-year, self-imposed exile on Thursday.

Police suspect the first blast was caused by a hand grenade that a suicide bomber threw in the crowd before blowing himself up in the second blast.

A picture of the head of a suspected attacker has been released though there has been no major breakthrough in the investigation, a police official said on condition of anonymity.

Resentment has also grown in other parts of the country. Hundreds of people chanted slogans against the so far unknown culprits and in support of Bhutto after attending the funeral of a victim in Mach town, some 50 kilometres east of the provincial capital Quetta in Balochistan.

In several cities of central Punjab province people attended funerals for the 140 killed in the attack, for which no-one has so far taken responsibility.

Bhutto and her party seem confused over who should be blamed for the attack. Sometimes she points the finger at Islamic militants who are enraged over her support for the United States and her alliance with President General Pervez Musharraf, a key US ally in the war against terrorism.

In the same breath she accuses 'some elements' within the government of Musharraf, who earlier this month granted Bhutto an amnesty on the corruption charges she faced as part of a US backed power-sharing deal and allowed her return home to participate in forthcoming general elections.

But the Saturday carnage has raised fears over the prospects for that vote and there were media reports that some cabinet ministers recently advised the military ruler to postpone them.

Washington rushed to reject the suggestion Saturday, saying the democratic process in Pakistan should not be undermined by the Thursday bombings.

'We do not wish to see any action taking place that would undermine the democratic process in Pakistan or make it harder for the Pakistani people to have an opportunity to express their views in free and fair elections,' White House Press Secretary Dana Pernio said.