A spokesman from Pakistan's Interior Ministry said Saturday that
the rioting across the country had killed 38 people and injured 52
others.
Speaking at a news briefing, Brig. Javed Cheema said the riots
also caused tens of millions of U.S. dollars in damage across the
country, with 174 banks being burnt.
The overall situation in the country was satisfactory on
Saturday, Cheema said, warning that nobody would be allowed to take
laws into his own hand.
Cheema said criminals took advantage of the tense situation in
the country following the death of former prime minister and
chairperson of People's Party (PPP) Benazir Bhutto.
A spokesman of militant leader Baitullah Mehsud said on Saturday
that they were not involved in the assassination of Bhutto and
termed the allegation of their involvement as propaganda of the
government.
Replying to a question about Baitullah Mehsud's claim, Cheema
said that it was up to the people to believe the government or
Baitullah. He added that the body of Bhutto could be exhumed to
perform postmortem if the supporters of PPP gave a nod.
Bhutto was killed in a suicide attack on Thursday. After
addressing an election rally in the garrison city of Rawalpindi,
Bhutto was leaving the venue of the public meeting when she met a
group of supporters. She stood up and waved to her supporters from
the sunroof of her car and then the suicide bomber launched the
attack.
Violence prevailed in the country when angry supporters of PPP
took to the streets, burning vehicles, trains and banks, destroying
election materials and looting shops. Most of the shops, banks and
gas stations remained closed for fear of riots in some sensitive
cities in the country, resulting in inconvenience for people.
(Xinhua News Agency December 30, 2007)
