The United States rejected Benazir Bhutto’s request to provide her security, says The Hindu while mentioning cables revealed by WikiLeaks. Two months before her assassination in December 2007, Benazir Bhutto’s apprehensions about her violent end and her suspicions that elements in the Musharraf regime were out to eliminate her, led the two-time prime minister to ask the US to provide her security, The Hindu reported.
Diplomatic cables show that Benazir made the request after the suicide bombing targeting her rally as she returned to Pakistan from exile on October 18, 2007. The return from exile of the charismatic Pakistan People’s Party leader had been facilitated by an agreement with the then president Pervez Musharraf brokered by the US and the United Kingdom. The two western powers were pinning their hopes on a Musharraf-Benazir government after parliamentary elections that were to take place soon. But Benazir was convinced that some people in General Musharraf’s inner circle were determined to kill her says The Hindu newspaper.
During a meeting with US Ambassador Anne W Patterson in Karachi on October 23, Benazir insisted that government officials were responsible for the attack and they could not be trusted to conduct an independent investigation in the attack, according to a cable dated October 29, 2007.
‘US rejected BB’s request for security cover’
