Fatima blames BB for Karachi carnage
Bureau Report

KARACHI—Benazir Bhutto bears the responsibility for the deaths of 139 people in an attack on her homecoming rally by exposing them to danger for the sake of her own “personal theatre”, her estranged niece said. Newspaper columnist and poet Fatima Bhutto, the granddaughter of late Pakistani premier Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, also said in an interview that her aunt’s return from exile would plunge the country further into turmoil.
“She insisted on this grand show, she bears a responsibility for these deaths and for these injuries,” the 25-year-old said at her plush family home in Karachi two days after the bombings. Fatima Bhutto is the daughter of former prime minister Benazir’s late brother Murtaza, who was killed in Karachi in 1996 amid murky circumstances that led to the collapse of her second term in government.
Fatima Bhutto accused the opposition leader of protecting herself on her return to Pakistan with an armoured truck, while bussing in hundreds of thousands of supporters despite warnings of an attack. “They died for this personal theatre of hers, they died for this personal show,” she said.
The suicide and grenade blast happened hours after Benazir Bhutto, a two-time premier, flew to Karachi from Dubai. She has blamed Islamic extremists, possibly with links to rogue or former intelligence agents, for the attack. Her Pakistan People’s Party dismissed “senseless accusations” that the 54-year-old was responsible for the deaths, saying it was the government’s job to protect its citizens.