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Countries condemn Bhutto killing

By ANDREW O. SELSKY

News

 

From Moscow to Washington to New Delhi and points in

between, dismay and condemnation poured forth Thursday

over the assassination of Pakistani opposition leader

Benazir Bhutto, along with concern for the stability

of the volatile region. World leaders lauded her

bravery and commitment to democratic reform.

 

In India, which has fought three wars against

Pakistan, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Bhutto is

irreplaceable, and noted she had striven to improve

relations between the two nuclear-armed countries.“I

was deeply shocked and horrified to hear of the

heinous assassination,” Singh said. “In her death, the

subcontinent has lost an outstanding leader who worked

for democracy and reconciliation in her country.”

 

Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai, who met Bhutto

earlier on Thursday in Islamabad, said he was “deeply

pained” by the assassination of “this brave sister of

ours, a brave daughter of the Muslim world”

 

“She sacrificed her life, for the sake of Pakistan and

for the sake of this region,” he said. “I found in her

this morning a lot of love and desire for peace in

Afghanistan, for prosperity in Afghanistan and …

Pakistan.”

 

In a letter to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf,

French President Nicolas Sarkozy called the attack an

“odious act” and said “terrorism and violence have no

place in the democratic debate and the combat of ideas

and programs.”

 

Bhutto, a former two-time prime minister of Pakistan,

was killed in a suicide attack in Rawalpindi just 10

weeks after she returned to her homeland from eight

years in exile. A suicide attack on her homecoming

parade killed more than 140 people. The articulate,

poised 54-year-old had lashed out at the spread of

Islamic extremism as she campaigned for next month’s

parliamentary elections.

 

The United States had been at the forefront of foreign

powers trying to arrange reconciliation between Bhutto

and Musharraf, who under heavy U.S. pressure resigned

as army chief and earlier this month lifted a state of

emergency, in the hope it would put Pakistan back on

the road to democracy.

 

President Bush demanded that the killers be brought to

justice.

 

“The United States strongly condemns this cowardly act

by murderous extremists who are trying to undermine

Pakistan’s democracy,” he said. He expressed his

deepest condolences to Bhutto’s family and to the

families of others slain in the attack and to all the

people of Pakistan.

 

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also called for the

perpetrators to be brought to justice and for “all

Pakistanis to work together for peace and national

unity.”

 

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi,

said Pope Benedict XVI was immediately informed of the

“terrible news.”

 

“One cannot see signs of peace in this tormented

region,” Lombardi said.

 

Sarkozy said Bhutto had paid “with her life her

commitment to the service of her fellow citizens and

to Pakistan’s political life” and urged Pakistan’s

elections be held as scheduled on Jan. 8.

 

In Britain, where Bhutto had attended Oxford

University, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said she

“risked everything in her attempt to win democracy in

Pakistan and she has been assassinated by cowards who

are afraid of democracy.”

 

“The terrorists must not be allowed to kill democracy

in Pakistan, and this atrocity strengthens our resolve

that the terrorists will not win there, here, or

anywhere in the world,” Brown said.

 

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said the attack

“is clearly aimed at destabilizing the country.” He

beseeched Pakistanis to refrain from violence.

 

Italian Premier Romano Prodi said he was filled with

grief and called Bhutto “a woman who chose to fight

her battle until the end with a single weapon — the

one of dialogue and political debate.”

 

“The difficult path toward peace and democracy in that

region must not be stopped, and Bhutto’s sacrifice

will serve as the strongest example for those who do

not surrender to terrorism,” Prodi said.

 

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, during a speech

south of Santiago, paid “sincere tribute to a woman …

who fought her entire life for a better Pakistan.”

 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the “cowardly

terrorist attack … also targets the stability and

democratic process of Pakistan.”

 

In Moscow, Anatoly Safonov, Russian President Vladmir

Putin’s envoy on international cooperation against

terrorism, expressed fears the assassination would

trigger violent repercussions.

 

“The already unstable situation in Pakistan will be

further exacerbated by this powerful factor,” Safonov

said, according to the Interfax news agency.

 

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin

condemned the attack, the RIA-Novosti news agency

reported.

 

“We hope that the leadership of Pakistan will succeed

in taking all measures for guaranteeing security in

the country,” Kamynin said.

 

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who

personally knew Bhutto, said he hails her memory and

called on the international community to support

Pakistan and its democracy.

 

Sweden’s Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said he had felt

disgust when receiving the news of Bhutto’s murder,

which he called “bestial.”

 

“I feel a strong worry for the consequences this will

have for Pakistan,” he said.

 

Israeli President Shimon Peres said Bhutto “feared

nothing and served her country with valor.” url:

http://news./s/ap/pakistan_bhutto_world

 

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