The U.N. Commission of Inquiry charged with investigating the December 2007 assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto says her murder could have been prevented if adequate security measures had been taken. The 65-page report released Thursday faults the Pakistani government and local authories, as well as the police, for not taking the necessary measures to protect her. The commission also criticized the subsequent police investigation.
The highly-anticipated report says the ultimate responsibility for Ms. Bhutto's security on the day she was killed rested with the federal government, the local government of Punjab, and the police in Rawalpindi, where she died in a gun and suicide attack.
The head of the panel, Chilean U.N. Ambassador Heraldo Munoz told reporters in a news conference shortly after the report's release, that none of these entities took the necessary measures to protect her from the extraordinary security risks she faced. "A range of government officials failed profoundly in their efforts; first, to protect Ms. Bhutto; and second, to investigate with vigor all those responsible for her murder -- not only in the execution of the attack, but also in its conception, planning and financing," he said.
He said Ms. Bhutto had a clear understanding of the risks she faced in returning to Pakistan, as did the government of then-President Pervez Musharraf, but it was not adequate for the government to simply inform her of the dangers, it should have taken steps to protect her.
Munoz and the other two commission members -- Indonesian former attorney general Marzuki Darusman and Irish former police official Peter Fitzgerald - and their staff, interviewed more than 250 people inside Pakistan and elsewhere, and examined and analyzed hundreds of documents, videos, photographs and other documentary information during their nine and half month fact-finding investigation.
Among their other conclusions was that actions and omissions by the Rawalpindi police in the immediate aftermath of the assassination - including hosing down the crime scene and failing to collect and preserve evidence - caused irreparable damage to the investigation. "The collection of 23 pieces of evidence was manifestly inadequate in a case that should have resulted in thousands of pieces of evidence," he said.
The panel said a government news conference the day after the assassination was ordered by President Musharraf. During that event, a government official said Ms. Bhutto's death was caused when she hit her head on the lever of her vehicle's escape hatch. The government also blamed Pakistani Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud and Al-Qaida for the suicide bomber that attacked her convoy.
Ambassador Munoz said those assertions were made well before any proper investigation had been initiated. "This action pre-empted, prejudiced and hindered the subsequent investigation," he said.
Pakistan's powerful intelligence agency, the ISI, also came in for criticism in the report. The commission found that the agency conducted parallel investigations, gathering evidence and detaining suspects, which it selectively shared with police. It also failed to inform police of intelligence it had about terrorist cells targeting Ms. Bhutto.
The report concluded that failures of the police and other officials to react effectively to Ms. Bhutto's assassination were in most cases, deliberate. In other cases, the panel said failures were driven by officials' fears that intelligence agencies were involved.
The panel also criticized authorities for deliberately preventing an autopsy of Ms. Bhutto, saying it impeded a definitive determination on the cause of death.
The commission's report was supposed to be released on March 30, but after a last minute request from Pakistan's government to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a two week delay was agreed.
Ambassador Munoz said no changes were made to the report during that period.
The report was submitted to Mr. Ban Thursday afternoon. He then transmitted it to the Pakistani government, via their U.N. ambassador Abdullah Haroon. It was also to be given to the 15-member U.N. Security Council for 'information purposes.'
Ambassador Haroon abruptly canceled a news conference at U.N. headquarters moments before it was to happen. His spokesman said the government would respond to the report from Islamabad.
The commission's task was only to investigate the facts and circumstances surrounding Ms. Bhutto's death. It was not a criminal investigation. That now lies with the Pakistani authorities.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
UN Bhutto Inquiry: Assassination was Preventable
Deposed Kyrgyz President Leaves Country and Resigns
The deposed president of Kyrgyzstan, Kurmanbek Bakiev, has flown out of the country, ending a week-long standoff with the interim government. The Associated Press is reporting that Mr. Bakiev has formally resigned as president.
A week after fleeing the capital amid violent anti-government protests, President Bakiev boarded a military aircraft at Jalal-Abad in the southern part of the country and left Kyrgyzstan.
The flight landed in Taraz in neighboring Kazakhstan.
A representative of the interim government's press office, Melis Erdjigitov, confirmed to VOA News that Mr. Bakiev had departed the country, but would not comment on his destination.
Kazakhstan currently holds the presidency of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which had been involved in negotiations to resolve the standoff between the provisional leadership and the ousted president.
The interim government replaced Bakiev after security forces fired on demonstrators angry with his administration. More than 80 people died and hundreds more were wounded.
The president, in power for five years, lost support of the public amid accusations he gave family members influential positions and used their posts to enrich themselves. There were also complaints from civil society about of violations of human rights and muzzling the media.
The news of the president's departure came just hours after U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake completed two days of meetings with Kyrgyzstan's provisional government.
"I encouraged them to be fully transparent in everything that they are doing to be in very close touch, in consultation, with members of Kyrgyz civil society who, in turn, represent the people of Kyrgyzstan," he said.
The U.S. envoy says technical support and other assistance for Kyrgyzstan to restore democracy was the focus of his visit, rather than the controversial Manas air base. The facility, just outside the capital Bishkek, is used to move American troops and supplies in and out of Afghanistan.
The U.S. envoy told reporters the United States is willing to review the transit center's lucrative fuel contracts, which are controlled by members of the family of the ousted president.
The interim government has pledged to honor the remainder of the facility's annual lease, which expires in July.
Icelandic Ash Cloud Spreads, Snarls European Air Travel
A slowly spreading cloud of volcanic ash from Iceland is covering parts of Europe, shutting down air travel and stranding tens of thousands of passengers around the world. The cloud forced several northern European countries - including Britain, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark - to close their airspace, causing problems for thousands of Asian and U.S. travelers. Airports in Paris, Berlin, and Hamburg have been shut down.
Polish officials have closed the airspace in the northern part of the country. It is unclear how it will affect world leaders heading to Poland for Sunday's funeral for President Lech Kaczynski.
A volcanic eruption in Iceland sent a plume of ash into the atmosphere. British airspace has been closed down for the first time since the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York.
"What we are seeing in Iceland is that as the magma particles get towards the surface, they interact with the very cold water and they chill to form glassy fragments and these glassy fragments are small, they have sharp edges and when those get up in the air that is what is causing the risk to aviation," says Colin Macpherson, a professor of Earth sciences at Britain's Durham University.
Aviation analysts say the sharp volcanic particles can damage a jet engine or cause it to shut down in mid air. Macpherson says the disruption is due to a combination of things.
"It is not just a case of understanding the activity at the volcano itself, what we are also seeing the effect of at the moment are the prevailing weather conditions because we are in a northerly air stream at the moment and that is bringing the volcanic dust from Iceland down over the U.K. and hence the caution on behalf of the aviation authorities," he said.
Macpherson says the ash cloud is not unusual nor is the eruption of the volcano Eyjafjallajökull after 200 years of dormancy.
"Any substantial eruption of a volcano has a potential to do that over a short period of time. By geological standards, this is not what we would call a big eruption," he said.
Macpherson says there is also no way of knowing whether there could be another eruption that could cause a similar ash cloud.
"Because there are only a couple of previous records of eruption at this particular volcano, it is difficult to judge either how long the activity will go on there, or how long the volcano might then be dormant before it goes active again," he said.
Meteorologists and aviation authorities are monitoring wind direction and the ash cloud's movement from Iceland to determine where and when to shut down airspace in Europe. There has also been extensive flooding in the southeastern part of Iceland as parts of a glacier were melted by the volcano.
Poland Prepares for State Funeral Amid Dispute About Burial Site
Poland is preparing to bury President Lech Kaczynski, his wife Maria, and 94 other prominent military officials and civilians killed in a plane crash last Saturday in western Russia. But, some people object to the burial site chosen for the late president.
Poland is in mourning. In Warsaw, preparations are underway for a memorial service on Saturday for all those killed in the crash.
A state funeral is planned Sunday for President Lech Kaczynski and the first lady. A number of world leaders are expected to attend, including U.S. President Barack Obama and the leaders of Russia, France and Germany.
But the location of the burial that is stirring controversy. Wawel Cathedral in the southern city, Krakow, is the traditional burial site of Polish kings and national heroes. Some Poles say, although they mourn the death of President Kaczynski, they do not believe he falls into that category.
Hundreds of people have demonstrated in Krakow to make that point. In Warsaw, a smaller crowd of several dozen mostly young people gathered late Wednesday with a similar message.
Speaking with VOA, protest organizer Martina Schultz explained why she posted an Internet petition against the burial.
She says we think President Kaczynski should be buried in Warsaw not at Wawel. I am not talking about his achievements, she says, I am not trying to diminish them, I tried to write the petition so as not to hurt anyone's feelings."
Shultz says she believes the decision to bury President Kaczynski at Wawel was taken in haste and under emotional stress and not considered properly.
She says 10,000 people have signed the petition and another 35,000 have signed it on Facebook. And, she says the protests would continue.
Polish officials say the burial site was chosen by leaders of the Catholic Church and the Kaczynski family, which include the late president's twin brother Jaroslaw, the leader of Poland's opposition.
Magdalena, 18, says she came to the protest meeting to express her feelings, even though she believes it is too late to change burial plans.
At one point she says "I may be young, but I know what I think and can say it." She says she believes people's emotions of grief are being manipulated.
Those sentiments are not likely to hold sway with the many thousands who have lined up in front of the Presidential Palace in Warsaw to file past the coffins of the president and first lady lying in state inside.
Krzysztof is with a delegation of coal miners, who have come from near the city of Katowice in southern Poland.
He recalls that President Kaczynski came to the mining area on several occasions, he respected the president and he says it would be inappropriate not to be here to pay tribute.
Explosions in Burma Kill at Least 9, Injure Scores
A series of explosions in Burma have killed at least nine people and injured scores more.
Officials in Burma say there were three explosions Thursday afternoon in Rangoon, the country's largest city and former capital.
The blasts occurred in a park near Kandawgyi Lake where hundreds of people were celebrating an annual New Year's water festival.
The cause of the blasts is not known but authorities usually point the finger at ethnic rebel groups that have for decades been fighting against the military government.
Burma's military has been moving in on rebel and cease-fire groups to pressure them into submission.
Zin Linn, a spokesman for Burma's government in exile, says many of the armed groups oppose controversial elections the government plans to hold this year and that the explosions are a warning.
"These blasts are signs that if they go ahead with this election, with this constitution, there will be new civil strife, new civil war," he said.
Burma plans to hold its first elections in twenty years sometime later this year but authorities have yet to announce a date.
Rights groups and many western governments have dismissed the elections as a sham designed to keep the military in power.
A 2008 constitution it drafted guarantees the military a quarter of seats in the parliament, regardless of elections. Its election laws force political parties to expel current and former political prisoners from their ranks or face dissolution.
The biggest opposition party, the National League for Democracy, won Burma's last election in 1990 but the military ignored the results. A campaign of arresting and harassing NLD members led many to flee to Thailand where they formed the government in exile.
The authorities have kept the leader of the NLD, Nobel Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, locked up for most of the time since. Her house arrest was extended by 18 months in August for allowing an uninvited American man to stay in her house without official permission.
The NLD has refused to take part in the elections.
Death Toll From Chinese Earthquake Rises to 760
Emergency workers in western China are struggling against freezing cold and altitude sickness in the search for more survivors of this week's powerful earthquake that killed at least 760 people and left thousands homeless
Using their bare hands and shovels, rescuers continued Thursday to claw through the rubble of buildings that collapsed in a powerful earthquake in Qinghai Province.
The death toll is expected to rise with hundreds more still believed to buried under collapsed mud and wood structures. The quake, which struck the mainly Tibetan region early Wednesday, is the deadliest in China in almost two years.
Photographs of the victims are emerging and they show many school children among the dead.
State media reports say 66 pupils and 10 teachers have been killed and dozens of grieving parents are waiting for news near ruined schools.
Thousands of people spent the night out in the open wrapped in blankets against the below freezing temperatures.
Zou Ming is the Ministry of Civil Affairs' disaster relief head. He says medical aid, food and shelter are the top priority for the 100,000 people living in the quake zone.
Zou says a huge relief effort to send tents and medical equipment is under way.
He says soldiers and medical teams have been dispatched.
Doctors who have reached the worst affected areas in Yushu County - where 85 percent of buildings have been destroyed - have rigged makeshift hospitals.
But they say the region's high altitude hampers rescue and aid workers. At high altitudes, there is less oxygen in the air, and people from lower regions often have problems coping.
Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao is to visit the area late Thursday. He and President Hu Jintao have called for an all-out rescue effort to reach the disaster zone on the Tibetan plateau known as the "Roof of the World".
The United States said it is "ready to assist" if China requests international aid.
The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama offered prayers for those who died while Pope Benedict called for "solidarity" with the victims.
The 6.9 quake and a score of aftershocks were centered in the mountains that divide Qinghai province from the Tibet Autonomous Region.
Some of the scenes are a reminiscent of those seen after the May 2008 earthquake that claimed more than 70,000 lives in neighboring Sichuan Province. Among the victims were thousands of school children killed when their schools crumbled in the quake.
Accusations that the schools were poorly built are still a source of controversy in China.
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