Bhutto was to give vote rigging report to U.S. lawmakers
Posted on January 1, 2008 - Filed Under Bhutto, Elections, Pakistan |
Reports are now emerging about Benazir Bhutto’s concern over vote rigging in the upcoming January 8th election.
According to CNN: “On the day she died, Benazir Bhutto planned to hand over to visiting U.S. lawmakers a report accusing Pakistan’s intelligence services of a plot to rig parliamentary elections, sources close to the slain former Pakistani prime minister told CNN Tuesday. Bhutto was assassinated Thursday, hours before a scheduled meeting with Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-Rhode Island, and Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pennsylvania. A top Bhutto official who helped write the report showed a copy to CNN.”Where an opposing candidate is strong in an area, they [supporters of President Pervez Musharraf ] have planned to create a conflict at the polling station, even killing people if necessary, to stop polls at least three to four hours,” the document says.”
Saeed Shah of McClatchy, is reporting, ” Safraz Khan Lashari, a member of the Pakistan People’s Party election monitoring unit, said the report was “very sensitive” and that the party wanted to initially share it with trusted American politicians rather than the Bush administration, which is seen here as strongly backing Musharraf.
“It was compiled from sources within the (intelligence) services who were working directly with Benazir Bhutto,” Lashari said, speaking Monday at Bhutto’s house in her ancestral village of Naudero, where her husband and children continued to mourn her death.”
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4 Responses to “Bhutto was to give vote rigging report to U.S. lawmakers”
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How on earth can people expect anyone to have protected her when she sticks her whole upper torso through the sunroof of a car in a street which is teeming with people and wild with action? No bullet proof car or tinted glass is gonna help in that case. Charges of conspiracy are ridiculous!
Can anyone tell me the last time there were fair elections in Pakistan? I think the US is well aware of the issues. As a Pakistani who lived in pakistan for 22 years of my life, I can tell you that when I went to vote for the first and then the second time in Pakistan, a vote had already been cast in my name despite the fact that I had my national ID card, a requirement for voting in my hand. Even if Benazir provided evidence for rigging of elections, its not news to anyone, at least not me…..
Amber: are you saying that it is not relevant that she thought the fix was in and was killed just as she was about to talk to officials about it? Seems a little dubious and coincidental don’t you think?
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