Pakistan Views

Shares in Karachi stock market rallied on Thursday as the country’s political crisis appeared to stabilise.

The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) benchmark 100-share index jumped 3.7 percent in morning trade after electoral authorities declared a six-week delay to general elections and the president said Britain would help with investigations into last week’s martyrdom of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

At 0530 GMT, the index was up 502.22 points at 13,855.60 on turnover of 51 million shares.

“Apart from the market bouncing back after an almost 10 percent fall, investors have become optimistic as President Musharraf has given a clear-cut time frame for elections and met most of the demands of the opposition parties,” said Sajid Bhanji a dealer at brokers Arif Habib Ltd.

A delay to elections, originally scheduled for Jan. 8, was widely expected but investors had feared that a lengthy or indefinite postponement could have led to new political unrest and a possible return to street violence.

The commission declared a new date of Feb. 18.

Opposition leader Benazir’s martyred, in a gun-and-bomb attack at a campaign rally on Dec. 27, unleashed a wave of violence on the streets and selling in the market. At Wednesday’s close, the KSE index had shed 9.6 percent since her martyred.

Authorities blamed al Qaeda for her murder, but controversy over their official version of events led to demands from Benazir’s party for an international inquiry.

Dealers said crude oil leaping to a lifetime high of $100 a barrel on Wednesday provided further support to Pakistani energy stocks, the heaviest-weighted sector in the KSE.

“I think if foreign investors look for the long term, there is value,” said Tariq Choudhry, head of sales at Invisor Securities.

Among the most active shares, Oil and Gas Development Co Ltd rose 4.60 rupees to 118, outsourcing firm TRG Pakistan 0.95 rupees to 14.35 and Bank of Punjab 2.90 rupees to 97

Newspapers in the Gulf, home to many Pakistani expatriates, called for calm in the wake of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, which some papers called inevitable.

“It is strongly urged that charged sentiments be turned to keeping calm instead of igniting further trouble,” said the Khaleej Times, an English-language daily in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

“Now, there is much fear of massive rioting breaking out across the length and breadth of Pakistan, prompting a return to emergency (law) and undoing the election cycle,” it said.

“There can be little argument… Pakistan is at its worst in a very long time,” it added.

The Arabic-language UAE daily Al-Khaleej said it feared for the future in Pakistan after the two-time prime minister was killed in a gun and suicide attack.

“What is happening in Pakistan makes us put hands over hearts in fear and alarm,” it said. “Our hearts go out to Pakistan,” it added.

In Saudi Arabia, the English-language daily Arab News said in its editorial Benazir’s killing was “targeting Pakistan… (and) meant to plunge Pakistani politics into chaos.”

“It is up to decent people now to frustrate the murderers and prove their evil hopes wrong,” it said.

“Once the immediate shock of Benazir’s murder has sunk in, her supporters must recognise that this was a wicked blow aimed against Pakistan itself, not simply at the PPP,” it added.

The pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat called the assassination inevitable because Benazir had posed a threat to extremists.

“It is not strange that she was killed… This woman was beyond the ability of her foes to bear,” it said.

“Anyway, her platform was suicidal… she demanded a curb on ‘extremism factories’ in religious schools,” it added.

Some newspapers noted that Benazir compromised her personal security by returning home despite threats against her, with one calling her actions foolhardy.

“It was always deemed a courageous act to return to Pakistan this time to fight the forthcoming elections. But courageous acts can, in retrospect, also be deemed foolhardy,” the UAE English-language daily Gulf News wrote.

The Saudi Arab News also said Benazir’s “undoubted personal courage led her to underestimate the dangers.”

“The suicide bombing of her convoy during her triumphal return to Karachi ought to have taught her what she was up against. Yet, though her home became a fortress, she eschewed many obvious safety precautions when she was on the political stomp,” it said.

The chief of his own faction of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F), Maulana Fazlur Rahman, has termed the assassination of Benazir Bhutto a great tragedy and said it must be condemned in the strongest possible terms.

He said Benazir Bhutto’s death had shocked the whole nation at a time when the country was passing through the electioneering phase.

Addressing a press conference at his residence, he said the filling of the vacuum created by Benazir Bhutto’s assassination would take a long time.

The MMA and the JUI-F equally mourn the deceased leader and soon a meeting of

the MMA would be convened to discuss the future line of action.

The Maulana said terrorism and extremism had increased all over the world and had become a threat to the civilized society for which the US was responsible.

The US should revise its policies and avoid the use of force for bringing peace to the world, he said.

The leaders of various political parties staged a protest demonstration Saturday against the assassination of Pakistan People’s Party Chairperson Benazir Bhutto.

“Ghaibana Namaz-i-Janaza” was offered at three different places: Government High School Playground and at two-venue on Swabi-Mardan Road. The workers of PPP, ANP, PML-N, JI, JUI-F, PPP (Sherpao) and Pakistan Awami Party gathered in the Kernel Sher Chowk, chanted slogans against government and demanded that the rulers should immediately step down. The protesters marched through the main Swabi Bazaar and returned to the Kernel Sher Chowk through link road. Traffic on all roads remained blocked for six hours. The ANP district president Haji Rehmanullah led a protest rally in the Shewa Adda and marched towards the district headquarters.

The district nazim Shahram Khan ordered to close down all the institutions while announcing three days mourning.

Meanwhile, Dr Yasmin Jasim, district president of the ANP women wing said that it was a great shock for the whole countrymen that the leader like Benazir Bhutto was brutally assassinated. She said in a press statement that at present crucial juncture the country needed leaders like Benazir Bhutto.