Hours after it asked the people to “forgive and ignore” its claim that former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was not shot to death, the Pakistan Government retracted its apology today.

Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz Khan clarified that the government still stood by the “factual position” that Bhutto died of a skull fracture and not from a bullet wound. His remarks came hours after he was quoted by the media as urging people to “forgive and ignore” comments made by his ministry’s spokesman, Javed Iqbal Cheema, that Bhutto had struck her head on a metal lever on the sun-roof of her armoured Toyota Land Cruiser, resulting in a fatal skull fracture.

But Khan today said his apology was only for some “crude words” that the spokesman had used and it had “no effect on the factual position” taken by the government.

Yesterday, Khan had apologised for Cheema’s comments during a briefing for Pakistani newspaper editors by caretaker Prime Minister Mohammedmian Soomro, which was also attended by the Foreign Minister, Information Minister and senior officials. He had said Cheema’s comments may have been a mistake as “we are faujis (soldiers) and we are not so articulate to present our views as you journalists”. Both the Interior Minister and Cheema are retired army officers. “I am sorry if that happened and please forgive us and ignore the comment,” he had said.

Meanwhile, five days after her death, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) activists continue to gather at Liaquat Bagh, their Ground Zero, off the busy Murree Road, which connects the half-hour drive between Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Nayeem, a 28-year-old teacher, is an eyewitness and survivor. He suffered a leg injury in the blast. Carrying painkillers in his pocket, he limps to the spot where “Bibi” was killed. “When her car, which was making a U-turn, was stopped by people, I got her portrait autographed by her. A friend of mine was throwing flower petals at her, but she asked him to stop,” he recalls.

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