Moments after former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was declared dead Thursday, editor Kamal Siddiqi of the Karachi News reports that it's not clear whether Bhutto was killed by bullets from someone who then blew himself up, or whether she was killed by shrapnel from the blast.
Siddiqi says many in Pakistan welcomed Bhutto's return from exile in October. "With her came the hope of democracy, and also the hope that Pakistanis would once again be known for their moderate Islam," he says. "Her return to Pakistan was an occasion for a lot of people to cheer."
Back in Pakistan, Bhutto took on President Pervez Musharraf, pushing for him to step down as head of the army, to hold elections and to lift the state of emergency he had imposed. Bhutto got all of those things. "She was very much aware of what was at stake," Siddiqi says.
Talks between Musharraf and Bhutto had broken off, he says, but Bhutto's supporters hoped that she and her Pakistani Peoples Party would win a majority in general elections and force Musharraf to continue an agenda of reform. That was not to be. The hours after Bhutto's death have been marked by protest, some of it destructive. "We will see violence initially," Siddiqi says, "but hopefully that will calm down."
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