Bhutto Assassination New Video

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,319125,00.html

New Video of Bhutto Assassination May Contradict Government Version of

Events

Monday, December 31, 2007

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Video footage of Benazir Bhutto's assassination

raised new questions Monday about the government's version of how she died,

while elections officials said they would take another day to decide whether

to delay critical Jan. 8 elections.

Pakistan's major opposition parties are demanding the elections take place

on time despite concerns the country remains too volatile to hold the polls,

seen as a key step in U.S.-backed plans to restore democracy to the nation

as it battles Taliban and al-Qaida militants.

An election commission official said the body would announce a decision on

the timing of the elections on Tuesday after hearing from regional officials

on the "law and order situation" in the country. He spoke on condition of

anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Video: http://www.channel4.com/player/v2/player.jsp?showId=10619

Bhutto was killed in a suicide bomb and gun attack on Thursday, but

disagreements between her supporters and the government over the precise

cause of death are undermining confidence in President Pervez Musharraf and

adding to calls for international investigators to probe the killing.

The video footage, obtained by Britain's Channel 4, shows a man firing a

handgun at Bhutto from close range as she stands up in an open-topped

vehicle. Her hair and shawl then move upward, suggesting she may have been

shot. She then falls into the vehicle just before an explosion rocks the

car.

The government has insisted Bhutto was not hit by any of the bullets and

died after the force of the blast slammed her head against the sunroof.

Bhutto's family and supporters say she died from gunshot wounds to her head

and neck.

Bhutto's husband said late Sunday he refused permission for doctors to

perform an autopsy, meaning that short of exhuming her body - something her

supporters have already ruled out - the cause of her death will be difficult

to establish.

After days of rioting that left at least 44 dead, life in many Pakistani

cities began returning to normal, though soldiers and police patrolled many

areas. The streets were still quiet in the southern city of Karachi, the

scene of some of the worst violence, witnesses said.

The country's stock markets tumbled in early trading Monday as the uncertain

political outlook and violence triggered a selling spree. Soon after opening

for the first time since the killing, the benchmark Karachi Stock Exchange's

100-share index had plunged by 4.4 percent - one of its biggest single-day

falls.

On Sunday, Bhutto's political party named her 19-year-old son, Bilawal

Zardari, as its symbolic leader and left day-to-day control to her husband,

extending Pakistan's most enduring political dynasty.

The party immediately said it would contest the Jan. 8 polls, perhaps

sensing major electoral gains were possible amid sympathy at Bhutto's death

and a widespread belief that political allies of Musharraf were behind the

killing.

"My mother always said democracy is the best revenge," Bilawal said late

Sunday at an emotionally charged media conference at Bhutto's ancestral

home. "The party's long struggle for democracy will continue with renewed

vigor," he said.

Bhutto's party also appealed to the party of former Prime Minister Nawaz

Sharif, another political enemy of Musharraf now seeking to position himself

in Pakistan's new political landscape, to reverse an earlier decision to

boycott the polls. Sharif's party later agreed.

Tariq Azim, a spokesman for the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League-Q

party, congratulated the decision not to seek a delay in the vote and said

"we are also ready for the contest on Jan. 8." Earlier, he predicting the

election may be delayed up to four months.

The appointment of Bhutto's husband, Asif Ali Zardari, as effective leader

was not without complications. A former Cabinet minister who spent eight

years in prison on corruption accusations, he is known as "Mr. 10 Percent"

for allegedly taking kickbacks and is viewed with suspicion by many

Pakistanis.

Zardari said the opposition party - Pakistan's largest - had no confidence

in the government's ability to bring his wife's killers to justice and urged

the United Nations to establish a committee like the one investigating the

2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Several

leading U.S. politicians have made similar calls.

A statement from the British government said Musharraf had agreed to

consider "potential international support" for the Pakistani investigation

into the assassination, but gave no more details. It also urged Pakistan to

go ahead with elections without any "significant delay."

The British and U.S. governments had been pushing Bhutto, a moderate Muslim

seen as friendly to the West, to form a power-sharing agreement with

Musharraf after the election - a combination seen as the most effective in

the fight against al-Qaida, which is believed to be regrouping in the

country's lawless tribal areas.

Video: http://www.channel4.com/player/v2/player.jsp?showId=10619

http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/politics/international_politics/footage+of+bhuttos+death/1246547