‘Attacks on Oct 18, Dec 27 planned by same wicked elements’

Ghani says if the perpetrators behind Oct 18 tragedy were caught, those behind Dec 27 would also be revealed

KARACHI: Paying tribute to the lives lost on October 18, 2007, Sindh Information, Archives and Labour Minister Saeed Ghani said that the tragedies of both the incidents on October 18 and December 27, were planned by the "same wicked and ruthless elements". He said this on Friday while speaking to reporters during his visit to the graves of those killed in those incidents in a cemetery in Azam Basti. He then visited the memorial established for those martyred while protecting their leader, former prime minister Shaheed Benazir Bhutto, and placed flowers there. He was flanked by Special Assistants to the Chief Minister, Waqar Mehdi and Rashid Rabbani, and others.

PPP to pay tribute to October 18 martyrs

Ghani said that the sacrifices of the martyrs could never be forgotten. "The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has never bowed down before or compromised with a dictator. Shaheed Benazir Bhutto returned home on October 18 despite facing threats to her life," said Ghani, adding that several leaders and workers of the PPP had sacrificed their lives for the sake of strengthening democracy in the country.

The minister claimed that if the perpetrators behind the attacks on October 18 had been exposed and arrested, it would have been easy to catch the perpetrators responsible for the tragedy of December 27. He appealed to the Supreme Court to take notice that the accused in this case had been set free by the judiciary and demanded of the apex court to order their arrests again. The apex court should also summon former president General (r) Pervez Musharraf to the courtroom, demanded Ghani. He alleged that instead of registering cases against the accused, after the attacks on October 18, on behalf of the families of the victims, the government registered a case on the state's behalf just to weaken the case.

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Terming the October 18 incident as one of the most horrific incidents of terrorism in the world in which the workers of a "peaceful political party were targeted while welcoming their beloved leader," Ghani said that 177 workers of the PPP were martyred that night and 500 of the party's jiyalas were injured. "Despite authentic information that the life of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto was at risk, the then government of dictator General (r) Pervez Musharraf and his team did not arrange foolproof security for her," he alleged.

Ghani further stated that it was only after the tragedy of October 18 that a case was filed on the PPP's demand. Had the investigation of the incident been transparent and the former dictator had been arrested, the world would have known of the circumstances behind the tragedy of December 27, the minister remarked.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 19^th, 2019.