The All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA), which represents Christians and other minority groups, said its chief Shahbaz Bhatti, who accompanied Bhutto on her flight from Dubai to the port city, "sustained minor injuries to his right hand."
APMA workers Ashraf Raza from Karachi and Ilysa Masih from the city of Sargodha were however killed "on the spot as the bombs exploded only 120 feet (40 meters) apart from [our] truck," APMA’s Regional Director Khalid Gill told BosNewsLife.
Gill suggested that the death toll could rise as "these explosions left many APMA workers severely injured and many are still missing." He said APMA has announced three days of mourning starting Friday, October 19, for all those who were "killed or wounded in the bomb attacks which we condemn."
138 KILLED
Officials said at least 138 people and many more were injured in what has been described as the worst suicide attack in Pakistan’s blood stained history. Pieces of flesh were seen scattered across the streets. People, some of them dismembered, were crying for help. Children were reportedly among the many dead.
Thursday’s blasts happened as Bhutto’s motorcade was heading to the mausoleum of
Muhammad Ali Jinnah, a prominent Muslim politician, on Faisal Highway Karachi, a BosNewsLife reporter witnessed.
Gill said "more than 25,000 APMA supporters" gathered in and around the airport at Karachi to greet Bhutto on her return to Pakistan after eight years in exile.
The activists, Gill said, came from across the country "to greet Ms Bhutto warmly back home." He said APMA planned to free doves and display fireworks, but the two bomb explosions "ruined the peacefulness" of the procession.
MAJOR SETBACK
It came as a major setback for especially Christian leaders, including Bhatti, who had hoped Bhutto’s arrival could speed up reconciliation and increase protection for Christians following attacks by Muslim militants. Christians comprise less than three percent of the South Asian nation’s 160 million people.
Shortly before the attack, Bhutto told BosNewsLife that she had come to Pakistan "with a pledge to create a house open for everyone. In which all people can have bread and clothing."
On Friday, October 19, she vowed she would never surrender to militants after the deadli blasts which she described as an "attack on democracy" that wrecked her jubilant homecoming.
Bhutto, who was unhurt in Thursday night’s attack, was seen wearing a black armband in memory of the victims. "It was an attack on democracy and it was an attack on the very unity and integrity of Pakistan," Bhutto told reporters.
FIGHTING "COWARDS"
She stressed she would fight the "cowards" from groups such as Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, who had warned to launch suicide attacks against her.
"If it means sacrificing our lives, then we are prepared to risk our lives, but we are not prepared to surrender our great nation to the militants," said Bhutto.
She pledged to stay in Pakistan to contest the parliamentary elections in January, seen by analysts as a key step to return the Islamic republic to civilian rule.
However the latest violence raised doubts over a power-sharing arrangement and undermined hopes among pro-democracy activists that her return might end months of unrest under President Pervez Musharraf. (Read more from Jawas Mazhar on the Web via www.raysofdevelopment.org).
