WikiLeaks cables reveal secret meeting between US diplomat and Benazir Bhutto

After two blasts rocked former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s motorcade on October 18, 2007, she met a US diplomat Anne Patterson at her residence in Karachi and expressed dissatisfaction at the pace of investigation over the incident, a WikiLeaks cable revealed.

Details of the meeting which took place on October 29 reveal that Benazir said she was disappointed at the government which was not sharing details of the investigation and she repeated her request for help from the United States.

She shared details of the threats to her life adding that the Sindh government had warned her against visiting Larkana the Bhutto’s hometown.

She complained the government was not allowing any pre-election rallies and that was damaging her popularity.

She said that the election commission was not an independent entity and the voters list it had prepared had discrepancies.

When Benazir complained about loopholes in the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), the diplomat said she was aware of the document.

She said that she will stay in Pakistan even though she will the US and Britain to give lectures.

Benazir Bhutto, after an eight-year self-imposed exile returned to Pakistan to lead a rally in Karachi which was left incomplete after two blasts rocked her motorcade. Benazir survived but over 180 people perished and another 500 were injured. On December 27, the same year, she was shot dead during an election rally at Liaquat National Bagh, Rawalpindi.