Politics in Pakistan

Lahore Suicide Blast Marks Two Weeks Since Bhutto Killing

Two weeks after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, things in Pakistan lurch from bad to worse. On Thursday a bomb killed 20 police officers in Lahore, meanwhile opposition parties claim President Musharraf is attempting to rig forthcoming elections.

Pakistani police officers help a wounded colleague after a suicide bomb explodes in Lahore.

As Pakistan prepares to go to the polls in February, the tensions in the country are mounting. A new suicide attack on police officers on Thursday is the latest in a wave of bomb attacks in recent months while the country endures an ongoing political crisis. The assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto two weeks ago forced a delay in parliamentary elections, now the opposition is voicing concerns that the poll will be rigged.

Thursday's blast in the city of Lahore killed at least 22 people, all but two of whom were part of a group of police officers gathered outside of the city's High Court ahead of an anti-government protest rally by lawyers. The suicide attacker arrived at the court on a motorbike, then walked up to the police and blew himself up, the police reported. The explosion also injured around 60 people.

The security forces had been braced for violence in Pakistan as Muharram, a month-long Islamic period of mourning, commences on Thursday -- a time that has become a lightening rod for sectarian violence in recent years. However, the authorities had been mainly expecting attacks in the northwestern part of the country, where Sunni sectarian militants are active and where Shiite processions have been attacked in previous years. Lahore, on the other hand, is a city that is home to many of the country's elite, particularly army officers, and it is in Punjab, the country's most populous and richest province.

Thursday's attack is the first major one since the killing of opposition leader Bhutto exactly two weeks previously. She died in a gun and bomb attack as she left an election rally in the garrison city of Rawalpindi on Dec. 27. More than 20 bystanders were also killed in the attack which led to the postponement of parliamentary elections scheduled for Jan. 8 until Feb. 18.

Bhutto had returned from exile to contest the election with her Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and looked set to win a third stint as prime minister, sharing power with the newly civilian President Pervez Musharraf.

Analysts and politicians voiced concerns on Thursday that Musharraf could seize the opportunity of the suicide attack to further delay elections, Reuters reported on Thursday. The party that backs Musharraf is widely expected to do badly.

On Wednesday the PPP complained that the Pakistani authorities were carrying out a massive crackdown on its supporters in an attempt to stop them participating in the forthcoming elections. The government in the province of Sindh denied this, saying it had arrested around 1,000 people on charges relating to the outbreak of rioting that followed her assassination, in which 60 people died.

But opposition parties fear that the Musharraf is really intent on rigging the Feb.18 elections. Latif Khosa, a senior senator from the PPP, told reporters on Wednesday that police had filed charges against 400,000 of its supporters nationwide and had arrested "thousands" of others. He alleged these detentions were aimed at preventing Bhutto supporters "from taking part in the election process."

The party has also expressed doubts about the investigation into Bhutto's killing, which it has accused the government of being responsible for, either directly, or by not providing her with enough security. Musharraf has blamed Islamist militants but admitted that there were flaws in the initial investigation -- particularly the fact that vital evidence may have been destroyed when the street where the attack took place was hosed down soon aftewards. The initial government suggestion that she had died by hitting her head on a sunroof lever was widely derided.

PPP Wants UN Investigation

The president, who retired from the army to become a civilian leader in November, has since invited forensics experts from the British police to Pakistan to help with the investigation. On Tuesday he told them they would have a free hand, in contrast to his statement last week that he would not let them go on a "wild goose chase."

Even the presence of Scotland Yard's finest has not been enough to persuade the PPP that the probe will yield results. On Tuesday Bhutto's son, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari told reporters in London that only a United Nations investigation would satisfy him. "We do not believe that an investigation under the authority of the Pakistani government has the necessary transparency," said Zardari, who was chosen as chairman of his mother's party after her death, despite the fact that he is a 19-year-old student. "I fear for my country," he said at the press conference. "I fear that if free and fair elections are not held it may disintegrate.”

Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has also expressed concerns about the fairness of the elections. Sharif, who had been a political rival of Bhuttos and who also recently returned from exile called on Musharraf to resign on Wednesday and demanded that he reinstate the judges he dismissed during the six-week state of emergency that ended in December. "If he stays in power then nobody can save the country from complete destruction," Sharif said in Lahore on Wednesday. "They are planning massive rigging in polls and I want to make it clear that this would be disastrous for Pakistan."

smd/ap/reuters