Benazir Killing: "It's Against Our Culture To Attack Woman," Says Taliban

Baitullah Mehsud, leader of the Pakistani Taliban

In a new twist to the killing of former Premier Benazir Bhutto, the Taliban commander blamed by the Pakistan government for masterminding the assassination denied any involvement in the attack.

Maulvi Muhammad Omar, a spokesman for Pakistani Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud, said in Peshawar on phone from an undisclosed location that the government was trying to implicate Mehsud to cover up its ‘failure’ to provide security to Bhutto.

"We are sad over Benazir Bhutto's death. We do not have any enmity with Pakistani leaders and are only opposed to the US," Omar said and described the government's claims about Mehsud's involvement in the suicide attack as ‘propaganda’.

The Interior Minister had on Friday blamed Mehsud and al-Qaida for a series of suicide attacks across Pakistan and the assassination of Bhutto, who was killed by a suicide attacker after an election rally in Rawalpindi on Thursday.

Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said al-Qaida was bent on destabilising Pakistan.

Mehsud was recently chosen as chief of the Tehrik Taliban-e-Pakistan, a coalition of pro-Taliban groups from Pakistan's northwestern tribal areas.

Maulvi Omar said it was against tribal culture and traditions to attack a woman.

Omar also said a transcript released by the Interior Ministry of a purported conversation in which Mehsud apparently congratulated another person for the attack on Bhutto was ‘fabricated’. "Mehsud never congratulated anyone for the killing of Benazir Bhutto," he said. (Express India.com)

***** Everything seems to be in a state of disarray in Pakistan following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. There is so much confusion about what killed her; whether it was the gunshots, the suicide bomb or the impact which resulted in a fractured skull. Even the injuries sustained by her is shrouded in mystery. Now there are accusations, counter-accusations and denials over who really was responsible. Only time will unravel the true story behind this dastardly crime.