Washington - Today, former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated as she campaigned in the lead up to parliamentary elections scheduled for January 8. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), who earlier this month chaired a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee hearing on U.S. aid to Pakistan, released the following statement:


"The assassination of former Prime Minister Bhutto is a sad and senseless act. Pakistan's stability and its democratic future are in doubt, and this doubt weakens the security of our country as well. I hoped that the Bush administration would have undertaken a better accounting of the billions of dollars sent to Pakistan in military and social aid. The administration has yet to adequately report if those funds have produced the desired results, or even if they have been kept out of enemy hands, but evidence on the ground suggests that Pakistan has become less stable since 9/11. At this crucial time, the administration must undertake the kind of diplomatic surge necessary to ensure that democracy in Pakistan does not die, and it must insist on full accountability of military and development assistance to Pakistan, which up to this point has been absent."

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