New Video Shows Bhutto was Shot

A new video of the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto clearly shows a man leaping on the back of Bhutto's car and firing at least 2 shots nearly point blank at her while she is standing in the open sun roof waving to the crowds. This directly contradicts the official cause of death which the government claims was a skull fracture caused when the first explosion threw Bhutto against a handle in the car.

Additionally, aides who washed her body for the traditional Muslim burial claim to have seen bullet wounds in her head.

The government offerred to allow officials from the Pakistani People's Party to exhume Bhutto's body and carry out an autopsy:

The Pakistani government has no problem with officials from Benazir Bhutto's political party exhuming the slain opposition leader's body if they see a need to do so, an Interior Ministry spokesman said Saturday.

Brig. Javed Iqbal Cheema made the remark when asked about comments from a top Bhutto aide who helped bathe Benazir Bhutto's body after her death. Sherry Rehman, Pakistan People's Party information secretary, said it was clear that the former Pakistani prime minister suffered bullet wounds to her head, contrary to a government report that she died because she hit her head on a sunroof lever.

Cheema noted that if Rehman -- as she said -- believes she saw bullet wounds that caused Bhutto's death, "We don't mind if the People's Party leadership wants her body to be exhumed and post-mortemed. They are most welcome, but we gave you what the facts are." Cheema emphasized that the government's conclusion on the cause of death was based on "absolute facts, nothing but the facts." "It was corroborated by the doctor's report; it was corroborated by the evidence of the footage we showed you."

Why the government is insisting that Bhutto was not shot is a mystery. But it would appear that someone is trying to cover up that fact, perhaps believing that denying a gun was involved would somehow ease the scrutinty of any government involvement in the killing.

Whatever the reason, it has hugely damaged the government's credibility which is feeding the unrest that now threatens to break into open civil war. Such a turn of events could only benefit the extremists who hope that a crackdown on demonstrations would unite the country in an effort to overthrow Musharraf.