Saturday, May 22, 2010
HAMID MIR
HAMID MIR
http://www.mediafire.com/?mm25oyymd4d
By Amir Wasim and Nasir IqbalWednesday, 19 May, 2010
ISLAMABAD: The ripples caused by the emergence of an audio tape on the web last week of an alleged telephone conversation between a prominent Pakistani journalist and a Pakistani Taliban militant has blown into a full-fledged controversy, with the journalist and television anchor now completely denying his involvement and many others calling for a high-level investigation to establish truth.
Hamid Mir, who finds himself in the midst of a raging debate on the issue of journalistic ethics, has moved a step further from describing the taped conversation as doctored or concocted to completely denying that it was his voice. And for all this he is blaming the country’s top civilian intelligence service, the Intelligence Bureau Directorate which, according to him, was part of a larger game to malign him and a few others.
Shocking as it is, the telephone conversation revolves round the alleged dubious role of an Islamic hardliner and former ISI operative Khalid Khwaja, and that too when he was still in the captivity of a little known militant group Asian Tigers. The man posing himself to be Hamid Mir is heard accusing Khalid Khwaja of being a notorious double agent, who had been working for everyone from the American CIA to Qadianis, and having played a dirty role in the Lal Masjid episode.
The large number of websites where this audio tape is currently available describe it as a candid conversation on telephone between Hamid Mir and a Punjabi Taliban. Some have gone to the extent of accusing Mr Mir to be one of the instigators for what happened to Khalid Khwaja, as within days of this supposed conversation a video of Mr Khwaja was released in which he had made similar “confessions” of his involvement in the Lal Masjid saga, and of working for CIA. Within days of this video tape, Mr Khwaja was shot dead and his body was thrown on a road in North Waziristan.
However, Hamid Mir says he neither has anything to do with such a conversation, nor he can even think of getting involved in such an affair. He has also denied the content of a statement, purported to have been issued by the Taliban, who denied this telephone conversation but at the same time blamed the telephone company PTCL for illegally recording telephones of its subscribers.
In fact, talking to Dawn in his office on Tuesday Hamid Mir claimed that the entire tape recording and its uploading on the website was the work of IB and that too at the behest of President Zardari and the government to malign him as, according to him, he has been a bitter critic of President Zardari and others in his programmes.
Mr Mir claimed that the IB had used a special gadget through which they could change the voices. “They took my voice sample and changed it to look my voice through the special gadget,” he said. He warned that more such tapes involving some other journalists and politicians would surface in near future.
Mr Mir further claimed that he had been informed about this purported tape before time by Interior Minister Rehman Malik. “The interior minister took me to his Parliament House chamber on Thursday and told me that an audio tape had been prepared to implicate me in some terrorism-related issue,” he said, adding the minister also told him that his life was in danger. “The minister even advised me to keep some guards with me,” he said.
Mr Mir claimed that the audio tape was first released on a blog being run by some people belonging to the ruling PPP.
In the tape, Mr Mir is purportedly heard asking an unknown Taliban member to interrogate Khalid Khwaja over his links with the CIA and his role in the Lal Masjid siege. The journalist also narrates some incidents to prove that Khalid Khwaja was a CIA agent. In the conversation, Mr Mir tells the unknown person that Khalid Khwaja had arranged his meeting with an alleged CIA man Mansoor Ijaz in Islamabad. Similarly, Mr Mir has also narrated an incident as to how on the request of Khalid Khwaja he arranged a meeting of the widow of an alleged Al Qaeda man, Abdul Rehman ‘al-Kennedy’, with her son in the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Rawalpindi, and that later it was revealed that the woman was a Canadian national and also a CIA agent.
When asked about the contents of the controversial tape, Mr Mir said that in the recent past he had talked about Khalid Khwaja in detail on telephone only with an office-bearer of the PPP. He, however, denied that he had had any meeting with Mansoor Ijaz in Pakistan. He, however, confirmed the other part of the tape and admitted that he had “arranged a meeting of a woman with her son at the CMH on the request of Khalid Khwaja.” But, he said, later he came to know that one of the sons of the woman living in the US was working for the CIA and not that woman as claimed in the audio tape.
Mr Mir said he had met Mansoor Ijaz only once in New York in 1995 where he had gone as part of the delegation of the then prime minister Benazir Bhutto. “Mansoor Ijaz had come to see Ms Bhutto, but instead he met Asif Zardari,” he said.
When contacted, president of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) Pervez Shaukat refused to comment on the issue, saying they would come out with some statement in the next few days after holding consultations with other office-bearers.
Legal Notice
Meanwhile, Hamid Mir has served a legal notice on Publisher of Daily Times Salman Taseer who also happens to be the Governor of Punjab, Editor Rashid Rehman and Staff Reporter and Chief Executive Officer Business Plus Mian Ehsanul Haq demanding to pay general damages of Rs250 million as a compensation for allegedly damaging his reputation, along with a written apology within 14 days that should also be published in the newspaper in a similar manner and prominence as the alleged defamatory report was published.
“Our client vehemently denies the conversation made in the alleged communication as fabricated and concocted one,” the legal notice served by Advocate Assad Ullah Jaral on behalf of Hamid Mir said for publishing, what he claimed to be a libellous report titled: “Hamid Mir’s terrifying indiscretions,” along with transcript of alleged communication in the newspaper on May 10, 2010.
Besides on May 17, 2010, a private channel Business Plus also aired the same ‘negative propaganda’ against Mr Mir, the notice said, adding the act of defamation in the television programme
Hamid Mir, who finds himself in the midst of a raging debate on the issue of journalistic ethics, has moved a step further from describing the taped conversation as doctored or concocted to completely denying that it was his voice. And for all this he is blaming the country’s top civilian intelligence service, the Intelligence Bureau Directorate which, according to him, was part of a larger game to malign him and a few others.
Shocking as it is, the telephone conversation revolves round the alleged dubious role of an Islamic hardliner and former ISI operative Khalid Khwaja, and that too when he was still in the captivity of a little known militant group Asian Tigers. The man posing himself to be Hamid Mir is heard accusing Khalid Khwaja of being a notorious double agent, who had been working for everyone from the American CIA to Qadianis, and having played a dirty role in the Lal Masjid episode.
The large number of websites where this audio tape is currently available describe it as a candid conversation on telephone between Hamid Mir and a Punjabi Taliban. Some have gone to the extent of accusing Mr Mir to be one of the instigators for what happened to Khalid Khwaja, as within days of this supposed conversation a video of Mr Khwaja was released in which he had made similar “confessions” of his involvement in the Lal Masjid saga, and of working for CIA. Within days of this video tape, Mr Khwaja was shot dead and his body was thrown on a road in North Waziristan.
However, Hamid Mir says he neither has anything to do with such a conversation, nor he can even think of getting involved in such an affair. He has also denied the content of a statement, purported to have been issued by the Taliban, who denied this telephone conversation but at the same time blamed the telephone company PTCL for illegally recording telephones of its subscribers.
In fact, talking to Dawn in his office on Tuesday Hamid Mir claimed that the entire tape recording and its uploading on the website was the work of IB and that too at the behest of President Zardari and the government to malign him as, according to him, he has been a bitter critic of President Zardari and others in his programmes.
Mr Mir claimed that the IB had used a special gadget through which they could change the voices. “They took my voice sample and changed it to look my voice through the special gadget,” he said. He warned that more such tapes involving some other journalists and politicians would surface in near future.
Mr Mir further claimed that he had been informed about this purported tape before time by Interior Minister Rehman Malik. “The interior minister took me to his Parliament House chamber on Thursday and told me that an audio tape had been prepared to implicate me in some terrorism-related issue,” he said, adding the minister also told him that his life was in danger. “The minister even advised me to keep some guards with me,” he said.
Mr Mir claimed that the audio tape was first released on a blog being run by some people belonging to the ruling PPP.
In the tape, Mr Mir is purportedly heard asking an unknown Taliban member to interrogate Khalid Khwaja over his links with the CIA and his role in the Lal Masjid siege. The journalist also narrates some incidents to prove that Khalid Khwaja was a CIA agent. In the conversation, Mr Mir tells the unknown person that Khalid Khwaja had arranged his meeting with an alleged CIA man Mansoor Ijaz in Islamabad. Similarly, Mr Mir has also narrated an incident as to how on the request of Khalid Khwaja he arranged a meeting of the widow of an alleged Al Qaeda man, Abdul Rehman ‘al-Kennedy’, with her son in the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Rawalpindi, and that later it was revealed that the woman was a Canadian national and also a CIA agent.
When asked about the contents of the controversial tape, Mr Mir said that in the recent past he had talked about Khalid Khwaja in detail on telephone only with an office-bearer of the PPP. He, however, denied that he had had any meeting with Mansoor Ijaz in Pakistan. He, however, confirmed the other part of the tape and admitted that he had “arranged a meeting of a woman with her son at the CMH on the request of Khalid Khwaja.” But, he said, later he came to know that one of the sons of the woman living in the US was working for the CIA and not that woman as claimed in the audio tape.
Mr Mir said he had met Mansoor Ijaz only once in New York in 1995 where he had gone as part of the delegation of the then prime minister Benazir Bhutto. “Mansoor Ijaz had come to see Ms Bhutto, but instead he met Asif Zardari,” he said.
When contacted, president of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) Pervez Shaukat refused to comment on the issue, saying they would come out with some statement in the next few days after holding consultations with other office-bearers.
Legal Notice
Meanwhile, Hamid Mir has served a legal notice on Publisher of Daily Times Salman Taseer who also happens to be the Governor of Punjab, Editor Rashid Rehman and Staff Reporter and Chief Executive Officer Business Plus Mian Ehsanul Haq demanding to pay general damages of Rs250 million as a compensation for allegedly damaging his reputation, along with a written apology within 14 days that should also be published in the newspaper in a similar manner and prominence as the alleged defamatory report was published.
“Our client vehemently denies the conversation made in the alleged communication as fabricated and concocted one,” the legal notice served by Advocate Assad Ullah Jaral on behalf of Hamid Mir said for publishing, what he claimed to be a libellous report titled: “Hamid Mir’s terrifying indiscretions,” along with transcript of alleged communication in the newspaper on May 10, 2010.
Besides on May 17, 2010, a private channel Business Plus also aired the same ‘negative propaganda’ against Mr Mir, the notice said, adding the act of defamation in the television programme
By Hamid MirISLAMABAD:
The man who has ruled Sindh as a de facto chief minister for many years finally lost his powers on Saturday. Brigadier Huda, who was an ISI commander in Sindh, was in fact the caretaker of the MQM-PML-Q provincial coalition government. He was responsible for running the coalition in a smooth manner. All major decisions were taken after his consultation. He resolved the differences between former CM Arbab Ghulam Rahim and the MQM many a time. Many provincial ministers even used to say "ooper Khuda aur neechay Huda". The brigadier’s name figured in the power circles of Islamabad in the evening of May 12, 2007. Brigadier Huda was given credit for the show of massive government power in Karachi on that day. Initially, the MQM was reluctant to hold a rally in Karachi on May 12. The then ISI DG Gen Ashfaq Kayani also had the same opinion that the MQM should not come out on the streets when Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry would visit Karachi. It was Huda who played an important role in convincing the MQM not to cancel its rally. He assured the MQM leadership that there will be no riots on that day though he was proved wrong. He was supposed to be very close to the then Army chief General Pervez Musharraf. However, no action was taken against him.The blasts in the rally of Benazir Bhutto on October 18, 2007 in Karachi were another failure of Brigadier Huda. He was responsible for the security of Benazir Bhutto on that day more than anybody else. However, he was not transferred despite his repeated failures. His downfall started on April 9, 2008, when many people including lawyers were killed in the Karachi violence. It was another failure on the part of Huda. The new PPP government in Sindh felt that Brigadier Huda was still having immense political influence. It believed that he was in contact with the anti-PPP forces. Many important bureaucrats reported to the provincial government that Huda was interfering in different departments. He was more interested in "political makings and breakings" than doing his security job. After the episode of April 9, PPP leaders asked ISI Director General Lt Gen Nadeem Taj through the prime minister that Huda must be transferred. It took just a few days and Huda was transferred. He was replaced by another brigadier. The PPP gave a message that it means business and it will not tolerate any ambitious spymasters.There are rumors in the capital that the ISI DG will also be transferred soon but highly-placed sources in the new government dispelled all these rumours. "The prime minister has the authority to change the ISI DG anytime but right now we don't need to change him," claimed a top PPP leader
This looks like a tale of fiction and movies. But this is a real life drama unfolding in Pakistan around us.The secret web of betrayal and treachery – The untold story of Khalid Khawaja, Hamid Mir, Mullah Barader and Faisal ShehzadAny links between the three?? Seems impossible! But not in this high stakes State-sponsored dirty, sinister world of covert ops, double agents, sting operations and assassinations.Lets start the story:Americans have been trying to play a sinister game. They had penetrated into the ranks of Afghan Taliban especially into the Popalzai tribe and had cultivated a high level Afghan Taliban leader to be pitched against Mullah Umer. Basically, CIA was creating a "coup" within Taliban. Hold your breath, sit back and prepare yourself to know who this secret "CIA asset" within the Taliban was.. It was Mullah Barader! Yes, the same one captured in Karachi by ISI and US is desperate to have him.The CIA plan was that Mullah Barader would be brought to Karachi and then ISI would be tipped to arrest him. Then US were to ask the custody of the Afghan leader and Pakistan government would hand over the Afghan Talib leader to US. The result would be catastrophic for Pakistan as all pro-Taliban elements would then condemn ISI and Pakistan as CIA puppets and a serious breach of trust and confidence would appear between Pakistani security establishment and Afghan Mujahideen. This would also humiliate army and ISI in front of the nation. CIA and US administration were extremely upset when ISI refused to hand over Mullah Barader to US, despite the pressure from Zardari mafia. ISI initially did not know the CIA game. They just refused to hand over Barader to US and insisted upon their own interrogation first. Unknowingly, ISI was seriously damaging the US game plan of staging a coup against Mullah Omar as well as against ISI. During the interrogation, the entire game became exposed to the ISI.The Zardari clan was equally desperate to hand over Barader to US. Here, enters Khalid Khawaja!Out of his love for Taliban, unknowingly that he is entering to a global game of espionage and betrayal, KK filed a petition into the SC taking a stay order against handing over of Mullah Barader to US. Now US were furious. KK had signed his death warrant and now was marked for death.KK (Khalid Khawaja) had been going to North Waziristan and dealing with TTP, trying his best to start a reconciliation process between Pakistan and TTP. He was also aware of the fact that a “Lashkar Jhangvi” faction of TTP was opposed to these attempts at peace talks. These include Ilyas Kashmiri gang commonly called Punjabi Taliban. When KK was returning from talks with Hakim Ullah Mehsud, he was invited by Punjabi Taliban group and taken prisoner along with Col Imam and Asad Qureshi, the journalist.Initially, TTP was unaware of KK and his party’s being taken prisoner by the Punjabi Taliban. Later, when Hakeem Ullah Mehsud came to know of the drama, he tried to secure the release of the men. But then, enters another treacherous character from Geo TV.Hamid Mir, makes a call to the Punjabi Taliban and ask them not to release KK and instigates them to assassinate KK as a spy! Hamid Mir, talks to Punjabi Taliban (PT) in detail and this entire conversation is recored by the PT and the tape is taken to HakimUllah Mehsud. The allegations, charges and accusations against KK which were leveled by Hamid Mir were so severe that HakimUllah Mehsud also fell for the trap and allowed the execution of KK after making him read the confessional statement which was exactly what Hamid Mir had dictated to the PT. This tape is now available and is the most direct incriminating evidence against Hamid Mir. It is clear that Hamid Mir was launched by Americans to use his influence on the TTP and PT to get KK assassinated. It was done with precision, except for one blunder – the tape is now with Pakistani secret services.The American desire is to wage a war in North Waziristan against Haqqani / Afghan Taliban networks. Pakistan army is not willing to do that. Americans tried to use Mullah Barader to create serious mistrust and hatred between Afghan Taliban and Pakistan army. That was failed when Barader was not handed over to US and Khalid Khawaja unknowingly became a major setback for the Americans when he took a court order against Barader’s extradition. Khalid was trapped and Hamid Mir was used to mislead TTP into assassinating KK. But in the end, the US plan of waging a war in North Waziristan fizzles out.Now a backup plan was required to create reasons to initiate a war into North Waziristan. – Here enter Faisal Shehzad – a false flag operation to implicate Pakistani Taliban and then threaten and force Pakistan to “do more” in North Waziristan! Another Pakistani is arrested in Chile in the US embassy with traces of explosives on his luggage and clothes. More Pakistanis are being arrested and a massive media disinformation war is being launched that all global terrorism is emerging from Pakistani tribal pocket of North Waziristan and ISI/army is either hands and gloves with Taliban or nor willing to do more.So now, you understand the tone, language and demeanor of Hillary and US media over Faisal Shehzad! Despite the fact that US army Generals have confirmed that Faisal had no links with anyone in FATA.Pakistan was being setup for a possible geopolitical disaster. Allah protected Pakistan. US and Indians through their assets in Media and in terrorist groups continue to kick dust and deceive the world and Pakistani nation. But now, this time at least, their game is exposed.http://www.facebook.com/isifanpage?v=app_2347471856
Friday, May 21, 2010
BENAZIR BHUTTO
BENAZIR BHUTTO ASSACINATED Former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on Thursday when a gunman opened fire at her vehicle just before a suicide bomber blew himself up at an election rally in Rawalpindi, killing more than 30 people and injuring about 60 others. Some accounts suggest the gunman and the suicide bomber was the same man; he opened fire before detonating ex
plosives on his body.
Reports said five bullets were fired at Bhutto. The 54-year-old leader of the Pakistan People's Party was rushed to the Rawalpindi general hospital, where emergency surgery was performed. Doctors tried to revive her for almost 35 minutes before they pronounced her dead, the fourth member of her family after her father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and her brothers Shah Nawaz and Murtaza to die of unnatural causes.According to rediff.com columnist Hamid Mir, "Benazir was shot at by a sniper rifle from close range and a few moments later a suicide bomber created the blast to make sure that she is assassinated. It was a determined effort. They made sure she doesn't survive the attack. She died due to the injury in her neck. I was told about it by injured party leader Ibne Rizvi before he went into a coma.""She expired at 6:16 pm," said Wasif Ali Khan, a PPP member at the hospital.
She is survived by her husband Asif Ali Zardari and three children, a son and two daughters.Shots rang out as the Harvard and Oxford-educated Bhutto was leaving the Liaquat Bagh Park at about 5 pm after addressing thousands of supporters of her Pakistan People's Party.
The suicide attacker, who was reportedly riding a motorcycle, then detonated his explosives, killing up to 30 people and injuring 60 others.
Several people, who were around her car, were blown to pieces. A television reporter at the scene said the suicide bomber's head was found almost 70 feet from the site of the blast.
Eyewitnesses said body parts were strewn across the area. Ambulances rushed the injured from the spot to nearby hospitals.
Liaquat Bagh Park is where Pakistan's first prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan was assassinated in October 1951. Bhutto's father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was hanged in April 1979 at a spot not very far from where his daughter was killed.
"Yesterday," Mir said, "I had chatted with her. She was told many times that she carries as much risk as (Pakistan President Pervez) Musharraf. On October 15, (army chief) General Ashraf Kayani and the director general ISI met her in Dubai. They clearly told her that there are forces determined to assassinate her. She thought they were trying to deter her from coming back to Pakistan. I found she was overconfident."Added Mir, "Her partymen forced her to take risks. They were dragging her from one constituency to other. The threat to her life was so clearly understood by everybody. It was like the writing on the wall."
Hundreds of riot police had manned security checkpoints at the venue of the rally. It was Bhutto's first public meeting in Rawalpindi since she returned to the country.
In November, Bhutto had planned a rally in the city, but Musharraf forced her to canc
el it, citing security reasons.
In recent weeks, suicide bombers have repeatedly targeted security forces in Rawalpindi, a city near the capital Islamabad where Musharraf lives and the Pakistan army has its headquarters.
The anguish of Bhutto's supporters was evident from the protests outside the Rawalpindi general hospital. Protestors chanted 'Killer, Killer, Musharraf,' 'Dog, Musharraf, dog.' Some of them smashed the glass door at the main entrance of the emergency unit, others burst into tears. One man with a Pakistan People's Party flag tied around his head beat his chest.PPP supporters in Karachi, Bhutto's hometown of Larkana, Lahore , Hyderabad and Quetta, shouted slogans against the government and Musharraf. At many places, they burnt tyres, stoned cars, blocked roads and forced shops and business establishments to close.
Paramilitary Frontier Corps troops were deployed in Quetta to curb the protests as a high alert was sounded across Pakistan by the federal government.
President Musharraf convened a meeting of top advisors to take stock of the situation and declared a three-day State mourning.
Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan after a eight-year self-imposed exile on October 18. She served twice as Pakistan's prime minister between 1988 and 1996.
"We repeatedly informed the government to provide her proper security and appropriate equipment including jammers, but they paid no heed to our requests," one PPP leader said.
Nawaz Sharif, Bhutto's long-time political rival and another former prime minister, visited the hospital and sat silently next to her body, as her close aide
s former editor Sherry Rehman and Naheed Khan, who were injured in the attack, wept.
The Geo television channel showed her husband Asif Zardari, who had returned from Dubai to Islamabad on Thursday to be with Bhutto during her election campaign, weeping inconsolably.
Additional Reportage: PTI
plosives on his body.Reports said five bullets were fired at Bhutto. The 54-year-old leader of the Pakistan People's Party was rushed to the Rawalpindi general hospital, where emergency surgery was performed. Doctors tried to revive her for almost 35 minutes before they pronounced her dead, the fourth member of her family after her father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and her brothers Shah Nawaz and Murtaza to die of unnatural causes.According to rediff.com columnist Hamid Mir, "Benazir was shot at by a sniper rifle from close range and a few moments later a suicide bomber created the blast to make sure that she is assassinated. It was a determined effort. They made sure she doesn't survive the attack. She died due to the injury in her neck. I was told about it by injured party leader Ibne Rizvi before he went into a coma.""She expired at 6:16 pm," said Wasif Ali Khan, a PPP member at the hospital.
She is survived by her husband Asif Ali Zardari and three children, a son and two daughters.Shots rang out as the Harvard and Oxford-educated Bhutto was leaving the Liaquat Bagh Park at about 5 pm after addressing thousands of supporters of her Pakistan People's Party.
The suicide attacker, who was reportedly riding a motorcycle, then detonated his explosives, killing up to 30 people and injuring 60 others.
Several people, who were around her car, were blown to pieces. A television reporter at the scene said the suicide bomber's head was found almost 70 feet from the site of the blast.
Eyewitnesses said body parts were strewn across the area. Ambulances rushed the injured from the spot to nearby hospitals.
Liaquat Bagh Park is where Pakistan's first prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan was assassinated in October 1951. Bhutto's father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was hanged in April 1979 at a spot not very far from where his daughter was killed.
"Yesterday," Mir said, "I had chatted with her. She was told many times that she carries as much risk as (Pakistan President Pervez) Musharraf. On October 15, (army chief) General Ashraf Kayani and the director general ISI met her in Dubai. They clearly told her that there are forces determined to assassinate her. She thought they were trying to deter her from coming back to Pakistan. I found she was overconfident."Added Mir, "Her partymen forced her to take risks. They were dragging her from one constituency to other. The threat to her life was so clearly understood by everybody. It was like the writing on the wall."
Hundreds of riot police had manned security checkpoints at the venue of the rally. It was Bhutto's first public meeting in Rawalpindi since she returned to the country.
In November, Bhutto had planned a rally in the city, but Musharraf forced her to canc
el it, citing security reasons.In recent weeks, suicide bombers have repeatedly targeted security forces in Rawalpindi, a city near the capital Islamabad where Musharraf lives and the Pakistan army has its headquarters.
The anguish of Bhutto's supporters was evident from the protests outside the Rawalpindi general hospital. Protestors chanted 'Killer, Killer, Musharraf,' 'Dog, Musharraf, dog.' Some of them smashed the glass door at the main entrance of the emergency unit, others burst into tears. One man with a Pakistan People's Party flag tied around his head beat his chest.PPP supporters in Karachi, Bhutto's hometown of Larkana, Lahore , Hyderabad and Quetta, shouted slogans against the government and Musharraf. At many places, they burnt tyres, stoned cars, blocked roads and forced shops and business establishments to close.
Paramilitary Frontier Corps troops were deployed in Quetta to curb the protests as a high alert was sounded across Pakistan by the federal government.
President Musharraf convened a meeting of top advisors to take stock of the situation and declared a three-day State mourning.
Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan after a eight-year self-imposed exile on October 18. She served twice as Pakistan's prime minister between 1988 and 1996.
"We repeatedly informed the government to provide her proper security and appropriate equipment including jammers, but they paid no heed to our requests," one PPP leader said.
Nawaz Sharif, Bhutto's long-time political rival and another former prime minister, visited the hospital and sat silently next to her body, as her close aide
s former editor Sherry Rehman and Naheed Khan, who were injured in the attack, wept.The Geo television channel showed her husband Asif Zardari, who had returned from Dubai to Islamabad on Thursday to be with Bhutto during her election campaign, weeping inconsolably.
Additional Reportage: PTI
Pakistani cricketer turned politician Imran Khan said President Pervez Musharraf had failed in his war on terrorism and it was high time he steps down.
Speaking at a hurriedly organised press conference at a Mumbai suburb, Imran said, "Musharraf is a part of problem of terrorism and sooner he leaves power the better it would be for Pakistan."
Imran's party Teherek-e-Insaaf has boycotted the general elections sechduled to be held on January 8.
He was in Mumbai on personal visit. He will leave for Pakistan on Saturday.
Imran met the press a day after former
Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in Rawalpindi.
"Pakistan is ready for democracy now more than anytime in the past but there is no point in holding elections," said Imran, "People have lost faith in Musharraf and today nobody is safe in Pakistan. Who will now address a political rally? Who will come to attend the rally? A recent survey said 80 percent of the Pakistani people want Musharraf to step down but he refuses to leave his post."
Asked if there were chances that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal will be taken over by terrorists in case of chaos or civil war, the former Pakistan cricket captain said, "I don't think so but there is a threat that Pakistan will head towards anarchy."
When asked what message he wanted to give the people of Pakistan, he said, "To have patience. But for Musharraf I would say, your time is up. He is not the answer to terrorism. The situation in Pakistan has gone from bad to worse and the year 2007 saw the worst terrorist attacks in Pakistan."
When asked if Benazir make a mistake by coming back to Pakistan, Imran said, "She had to come back because she is the leader of a big political party. She was a brave woman and she was not timid. Nobody can deny it."
He further said, "Benazir's life came under threat because she was openly supported by America."
However, Imran did not hold Musharraf directly responsible for her killing but said, "Benazir was a threat to all those people who are in power."
Speaking at a hurriedly organised press conference at a Mumbai suburb, Imran said, "Musharraf is a part of problem of terrorism and sooner he leaves power the better it would be for Pakistan."
Imran's party Teherek-e-Insaaf has boycotted the general elections sechduled to be held on January 8.
He was in Mumbai on personal visit. He will leave for Pakistan on Saturday.
Imran met the press a day after former
Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in Rawalpindi."Pakistan is ready for democracy now more than anytime in the past but there is no point in holding elections," said Imran, "People have lost faith in Musharraf and today nobody is safe in Pakistan. Who will now address a political rally? Who will come to attend the rally? A recent survey said 80 percent of the Pakistani people want Musharraf to step down but he refuses to leave his post."
Asked if there were chances that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal will be taken over by terrorists in case of chaos or civil war, the former Pakistan cricket captain said, "I don't think so but there is a threat that Pakistan will head towards anarchy."
When asked what message he wanted to give the people of Pakistan, he said, "To have patience. But for Musharraf I would say, your time is up. He is not the answer to terrorism. The situation in Pakistan has gone from bad to worse and the year 2007 saw the worst terrorist attacks in Pakistan."
When asked if Benazir make a mistake by coming back to Pakistan, Imran said, "She had to come back because she is the leader of a big political party. She was a brave woman and she was not timid. Nobody can deny it."
He further said, "Benazir's life came under threat because she was openly supported by America."
However, Imran did not hold Musharraf directly responsible for her killing but said, "Benazir was a threat to all those people who are in power."
UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon plans to create a special commission to investigate the killing of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, a 
United Nations spokeswoman said Wednesday.
The U.N.'s Ban Ki-moon, left, visited Pakistani Premier Yousaf Raza Gilani on Wednesday in Islamabad.
Ban, who was in Pakistan for his first official visit, "intends to establish an independent commission of inquiry," said spokeswoman Marie Okabe.
The decision came after "extensive consultations" with the Pakistani government and members of the U.N. Security Council, Okabe said. The U.N. announced Ban's intention to pursue such a commission in December, on the one-year anniversary of Bhutto's death.
Bhutto, 54, was heading the opposition to then-President Pervez Musharraf when she was assassinated December 27, 2007, during a campaign rally in Rawalpindi ahead of parliamentary elections. She died after a bomb blast slammed her head into her SUV -- in which she was standing through an open roof, waving at supporters.
The Pakistani government and CIA officials said Baitullah Mehsud, leader of the Taliban in Pakistan, was responsible for her death. In December, a Gallup Poll showed that almost half of Pakistanis believed Musharraf's government had something to do with the killing.
Bhutto had told supporters that if she was killed, Musharraf would be responsible. She sent Musharraf a letter during the campaign that said that four people in the government were plotting to kill her, an official in her party said.
Musharraf's party was trounced in the February 2008 elections and the new parliament elected Yousaf Raza Gilani, a longtime aide to Bhutto, as the new prime minister. Musharraf -- who took power in a bloodless coup in 1999 and who had been accused of corruption, violating Pakistan's constitution and mismanaging the economy -- resigned as president in August.
He was replaced by Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari.
Ban met with Gilani and President Zardari on Wednesday.
He has sent a letter to the U.N. Security Council informing them of his plans for the three-member commission, Okabe said.
United Nations spokeswoman said Wednesday.The U.N.'s Ban Ki-moon, left, visited Pakistani Premier Yousaf Raza Gilani on Wednesday in Islamabad.
Ban, who was in Pakistan for his first official visit, "intends to establish an independent commission of inquiry," said spokeswoman Marie Okabe.
The decision came after "extensive consultations" with the Pakistani government and members of the U.N. Security Council, Okabe said. The U.N. announced Ban's intention to pursue such a commission in December, on the one-year anniversary of Bhutto's death.
Bhutto, 54, was heading the opposition to then-President Pervez Musharraf when she was assassinated December 27, 2007, during a campaign rally in Rawalpindi ahead of parliamentary elections. She died after a bomb blast slammed her head into her SUV -- in which she was standing through an open roof, waving at supporters.
The Pakistani government and CIA officials said Baitullah Mehsud, leader of the Taliban in Pakistan, was responsible for her death. In December, a Gallup Poll showed that almost half of Pakistanis believed Musharraf's government had something to do with the killing.
Bhutto had told supporters that if she was killed, Musharraf would be responsible. She sent Musharraf a letter during the campaign that said that four people in the government were plotting to kill her, an official in her party said.
Musharraf's party was trounced in the February 2008 elections and the new parliament elected Yousaf Raza Gilani, a longtime aide to Bhutto, as the new prime minister. Musharraf -- who took power in a bloodless coup in 1999 and who had been accused of corruption, violating Pakistan's constitution and mismanaging the economy -- resigned as president in August.
He was replaced by Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari.
Ban met with Gilani and President Zardari on Wednesday.
He has sent a letter to the U.N. Security Council informing them of his plans for the three-member commission, Okabe said.
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