Word: pakistans
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Even 18 months after her assassination, Benazir Bhutto's presence is ubiquitous in Pakistan. Portraits of the former Prime Minister, killed in a terror attack on an election rally in December 2007, continue to adorn government buildings, supporters' cars, and vast billboards. Visitors to Islamabad land at Benazir Bhutto International Airport, board a taxi that will drive down Benazir Bhutto road, and can pay the fare using limited edition Benazir Bhutto coins. Still, the country is no closer to definitively answering the question of who authored Bhutto's murder...
...Pervez Musharraf had fingered Baitullah Mehsud, the notorious Taliban commander. It enlisted the police expertise of London's Scotland Yard to establish the exact circumstance of Bhutto's death (there was much uncertainty over whether she died by gunshot or by hitting the sunroof of the vehicle, for instance.) Pakistan's Interior Ministry, meanwhile, furnished telephone intercepts that pointed to Mehsud's involvement. The CIA agreed that the Taliban commander was the principal suspect. Although he has since denied involvement in the killing, Mehsud was reported to have issued threats against Bhutto, a pro-Western opponent of Islamist extremism...
...finding commission launched its inquiry into Bhutto's assassination. A three-person team, headed by Chile's ambassador to the U.N., is due to arrive in Islamabad later this month, and report to Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon within six months. Its report will then be shared with the Pakistan government. Opposition politicians and a broad range of critics in Pakistan, however, have questioned the purpose and timing of the U.N. probe. (See a TIME video with Ban Ki-Moon...
...Islamabad Taliban Manhunt Pakistan's security forces are stepping up their offensive against the nation's Taliban leader, Baitullah Mehsud, and his estimated 20,000 fighters. The "full-fledged" escalation planned in South Waziristan, a Mehsud stronghold, reflects the government's heightened resolve to confront Pakistan's growing insurgency. But analysts warn that assaults in the mountainous region will be difficult to carry out and may prompt bloody reprisals elsewhere...
...some Pakistani analysts point out, there are other options available. "I have no doubt that [Pakistan's armed forces] do need local support," says Cyril Almeida, assistant editor at Dawn newspaper. "There are two ways of doing it. The lashkar route [local anti-Taliban militias] is one of them, which means supporting a genuine form of rebellion. The other route has been making deals with these unsavory characters like Qari Zainuddin. Unfortunately, in South Waziristan, the state has decided to use the short-cut route of just propping up the latter...