Normal life in violence-hit major Pakistani cities remained crippled on Saturday with shops, businesses and educational institutions being virtually shut.
ISLAMABAD: Normal life in violence-hit major Pakistani cities remained crippled on Saturday with shops, businesses and educational institutions being virtually shut to mourn the assassination of former Premier Benazir Bhutto.
People were unable to purchase essentials like food and fuel as all shops, gas stations, banks and offices were closed on the second day of the three-day mourning announced by the government after Bhutto's killing on Thursday evening.
Streets wore a deserted look in main cities like the national capital Islamabad, Karachi, Rawalpindi, Lahore and Peshawar, a day after 54-year-old Bhutto was laid to rest in her ancestral graveyard in Larkana in Sindh.
At least 34 people have been killed in violent protests that erupted after Bhutto's assassination with her angry supporters burning tyres, train stations, clashing with police and taking out protest rallies across the country.
The paramilitary Pakistan Rangers were given "shoot-to-kill" orders on Friday to tackle protesters in Sindh province, a traditional stronghold of the PPP that witnessed the fiercest protests. Provincial Home Secretary Ghulam Mohammad Mohtaram said 23 deaths were reported across Sindh alone.
The situation was still tense in Karachi, the capital of Sindh, with a heavy troop presence on the streets.
Troops patrolled the almost deserted streets of Larkana after overnight violent protests left several shops damaged. Scores of Bhutto's grieving supporters gathered to offer prayers at various places throughout the city, reports reaching here said.
Pakistan government last night blamed al-Qaeda of being behind the assassination of Bhutto on the basis of intelligence reports.
The Interior Ministry said that al-Qaeda leader Betulla Masood had sent congratulatory messages to his cadres on carrying out the assassination.
Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said bullets were fired just before a human bomber exploded himself at Bhutto's rally in Rawalpindi on Thursday but she was not hit by them.
She neither had bullet nor shrapnel wounds but died due to a fall in her vehicle when a lever of her vehicle from which she came out to greet her supporters caused a fracture on her skull, he claimed.
However, a close aide of Bhutto, who was with her at the time of the assassination, reportedly said that she saw the bullet wound in Bhutto's head.
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