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History she
wrote... Taal
Matol Editorial incident RIPPLE EFFECT Benazir Bhutto's tragic death attracted banner headlines in news journals across the world. A random compilation of excerpts from printed features 'She was a superb political operative' The New York Times, Dec 30, 2007 'Benazir Bhutto always
understood Washington more than Washington understood her. Over the 'Not unlike her role model Margaret Thatcher' The Daily Telegraph, Dec 29, 2007 'Her glamorous good looks
and fluent English led to a sustained love affair with Western politicians 'Vintage Bhutto' The Guardian, Dec 28, 2007 'Campaigning with customary
verve and energy, inveighing continually against the failure to provide 'One of People magazine's 50 most beautiful people' The Star, Malaysia, Dec 29, 2007 'Benazir Bhutto was many things - zealous guardian of her dead father's legacy, aristocratic populist, accused rogue, even one of People magazine's 50 most beautiful people. And in the end, she was a victim of roiling passions in the nation she sought to lead for a third time. ...To the West, she was the appealing and glamorous face of Pakistan - a trailblazing feminist, the first woman to lead a Muslim nation in modern times - though her aura was dimmed by accusations of corruption. ...But to many Pakistanis, she was a leader who spoke for them, their needs and their hopes. Even her worst critics would say that "she was a masterful politician,'' said Zaffar Abbas, an editor for the respected Dawn newspaper. She knew "what the people of this country wanted. ...If you asked an ordinary person what they achieved when Benazir Bhutto was in power, they would say at least she gave us a voice and she talked about us and our problems. That was her real achievement. 'An enormous tragedy' The Times of India, Dec 28, 2007 'Benazir Bhutto's assassination is an enormous tragedy not just for Pakistan but also for all of South Asia. ...This is not a routine assassination, because it snuffs out whatever faint hope there was of free and fair elections early next year. ...Terrorism is now lodged in the heart of Pakistan. 'The whole of South Asia reconciles itself to her death' The Tribune, Dec 28, 2007 'T he PPP leader was arguably the most charismatic political leader in Pakistan. This itself would have steeled the resolve of her enemies to bump her off. It is unfortunate that like many in her family ó father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was hanged, her brother Murtaza Bhutto who was shot by the police and another brother Shahnawaz Bhutto who died in mysterious circumstances in Paris ó she had an unnatural death. It is an irony that Benazir, who was the first Muslim woman to become Prime Minister in the world, could not complete her tenure both times she occupied the post. Her popularity, particularly in Sindh province, never waned as was underscored by the huge turnout of her supporters in Karachi after her return to Pakistan. Reports that she had entered into a deal with President Musharraf did cast a shadow on her image but later events proved that there was no love lost between the two.
There are times when one needs desperately to say something and yet when one tries there are no words. Now is such a time. And still compared to others I am well set because my elders left a treasure house of words and all I have to do is select some and use them. Faiz Ahmed Faiz was seldom at a loss for words, and on another equally desperate situation he wrote this poem and I find the words strangely appropriate. Blessings upon the raging madness of the land of my Love; And may the fates preserve the threadbare covering of my land. Blessings upon the blood-soaked earth of the paths of truth; And may this my flower bed of wounds be ever fruitful. Blessings upon the darkness of every blighted dwelling; And long life to each dweller, homeless and forlorn. Blessings upon the endless silence of all who died in vain; And blessings upon the luster of all eyes blinded with tears. May this usage endure, which is the surety of our woe; And last until the woe of existence finds an end. And may each one cherish his precious treasure of pain. And no one find release, until the great release. May those who live for you, never find rest for weary feet; And the thorns of your pathways ever prosper, red with blood. And those who die for you, may they too never find a peace; And the hallowed head of the gibbet live in the glory of its pride.
It is about time we spoke, loud and clear. Because we, the people, know the exact circumstances that led to the senseless killing of the most popular political leader of this country. We also have a clear sense of who the killers are. Benazir Bhutto's assassination is not an isolated incident; we understand the pattern well enough now to know it. Actually we always knew so many things as 'they' tried to get away with everything they did. But for far too long we chose to call them 'powers-that-be', too sacred to specify what exactly constitutes the abstract construct -- 'establishment'. Most of the time we chose to stay silent and if sometimes we mumbled, we knew who 'they' were as we spoke and so did our audience; a perfect arrangement indeed. Life went on. But we did underestimate the danger to Benazir's life despite the enormous damage done on Oct 18. We did not push for it as the issue got brushed under the carpet and various questions remained unanswered. The demands for an international inquiry -- 'Scotland Yard', 'forensics', remember Benazir talking about them -- were ignored because the powers that be thought that 'al-Qaeda' was beyond the purview of such worldly investigation and will do what it must. We too got drowned in the election frenzy which, Dr Condoleezza Rice was quick to remind us, would usher in a different and new day in Pakistan. This she said in reply to a question regarding the reinstatement of deposed judges in Pakistan. This and the issue of freedom of expression and the curbs on media kept raising their heads as the campaign gained momentum. Meanwhile the media cried hoarse about Benazir's 'deal' with Musharraf till the day it was thrown upon our face that it was actually a deal with death. Bullets were fired after the Dec 27 campaign meeting at Liaquat Bagh Rawalpindi as Benazir was preparing to leave, a suicide bombing took place soon after but the authorities tried to convince the nation that Benazir died by hitting her head against the lever of the sunroof of her bullet proof car, as if by accident. The doctors at Rawalpindi General Hospital were pressurised to remain silent, the medical record was forcibly removed, scene of tragic accident was quickly washed. Smart attempt but sadly the people already knew. They knew that elections would be postponed even if all parties agreed that they be held on Jan 8. They knew that Musharraf would not let the Supreme Court decide against his eligibility to become th country's president, even if it meant imposing martial law on the country. They knew that elections would be rigged and Pakistan People's Party and Pakistan Muslim League-N will not be allowed a two thirds majority under any circumstances. What they did not know -- or could ever imagine -- was that the leader of the biggest political party will be physically eliminated to prevent democracy from taking roots, to give people a chance to choose their destiny. Therefore, we say it is time to speak up. Because there is nothing left to lose and no scope for fears. It is time to speak the truth about the structural imbalance we're confronted with in this country, about 'military's domination' over all spheres, about the 'political economy of a national security state'. It is time to state that the term 'federation' means nothing for a vast majority of the people of this country. It is time to demystify the 'establishment' and the role it has played in undoing this country. It is time the media realised its own role in undermining the decade of democracy by portraying it as a 'decade of corruption'. In its eagerness to get the 'news' it did not bother to check where that news was coming from, their veracity and for what ultimate purpose. It is important to state this because those dreaded agencies, barely a week after Dec 27, seem to have launched their deadly campaign again, through SMS-es, emails, newspaper columns and all familiar means. Lastly, it is time to sadly admit that 60 years of a minus-people dispensation running this country has brought it to such a pass where every single political development is tied up with the US military aid to Pakistan. It is the Nancy Pelosis and Hillary Clintons of this world that we are forced to look up to for what is rightfully ours. Ironical as it may seem, we must remind them now that it is this very military aid that has worked against the people's will for so long. Do not push for it because the two cannot go hand in hand.
By Nadeem Iqbal In a complete departure from the internationally accepted approach -- of finding the criminal from the crime scene -- the federal government has first identified the criminals and then struggling to establish their link to the crime in the case of Benazir Bhutto's assassination. In his address to the
nation on Nov 2, President Pervez Musharraf requested the Scotland Yard to President Musharraf did not mention an earlier federal interior ministry's account that Benazir died of a head injury caused when she hit her head against one of the levers of the 'sun-roof.' of the vehicle through which she had emerged to wave to the cheering supporters around her vehicle. "The suicide bomber was on the left side of the vehicle. When she was waving, three shots were fired. But none hit her. Then there was a blast as the suicide bomber exploded himself. With the pressure of the shockwave Benazir Bhutto fell down and tried to tug down into the vehicle. When she was tugging down and was thrown by the force of that shockwave of the explosion, unfortunately one of the levers on the left side of the sun-roof hit her on her right side which caused a fracture in her skull and that caused her death," said Brig (retd) Javed Iqbal Cheema, spokesperson of the interior ministry. Strangely, Cheema reached this premature conclusion without waiting for the investigation to conclude. Similarly, he was quick to share an audio recording of two persons claiming to be Baitullah Mehsud and some 'maulvi sahib' with the journalists. Cheema claimed that, "She was on the hit list of al-Qaeda. We have intelligence intercepts indicating that al-Qaeda leader Baitullah Mehsud is behind her assassination. We just have an intelligence intercept that was recorded this morning in which Baitullah Mehsud congratulated his people for carrying out this cowardly act," he said. The interior ministry's
'sun-roof' conclusions are based on the medical examination report of
Benazir's Interestingly, within hours of the appearance of the 'sun-roof' theory, the media started reporting eye witnesses' accounts and showing amateur footage of the assassination, showing a gunman attacking the former prime minister. Establishing the gun-and-bomb suicide attack, in the video, one can see the suicide bomber wearing white robes and the gunman wearing a jacket and sunglasses standing beside each other amongst the crowd. The video shows the gunman apparently firing at Benazir Bhutto while she waves to supporters. After the gunshot is fired, it seems that Bhutto's hair and shawl are raised up by the impact of the bullets and she falls forward into the car -- before the explosion takes place. Sherry Rehman, PPP spokesperson said that the claim of the Interior Ministry was a bid to cover-up the government's failure to provide security to the leader of the biggest political party of the country. Rehman added that the tyres of Benazir's vehicle were busted due to the blast and she was taken to hospital in her car. Earlier, Rehman claimed that she saw a bullet injury in Benazir's head. "There was a bullet wound, that went in from the back of her head and came out from the other side," said Rehman. "We could not even wash her properly because the wound was still seeping. She lost a huge amount of blood." Rehman also alleged that Benazir Bhutto might have been targeted with a laser gun as the injury was fresh till the last moment. A senior police officer told TNS that the controversy over Benazir being hit by the bullet fired by the person on her left while the wound being on her right side, could only be resolved by the post mortem. The officer said that in postmortem, the skin is peeled off and skull is broken to see the exact direction and the size and caliber of the bullet. He said after determining the direction from where the bullet is fired one could say for sure if it was the same bullet fired from the gun of the person as shown in the video or was a sniper shot administered from some adjoining rooftop. Benazir Bhutto's post mortem -- that is mandatory under the law -- was not carried out because her spouse Asif Zardari did not allow it fearing that the government would desecrate her body. Now the body might be exhumed. Regarding the security of Benazir, the police officer said that it was clearly a security lapse. "It seems that the only security available to Benazir was a bullet proof vehicle and a couple of personal guards hanging onto the vehicle. Otherwise in normal security arrangements, around four to five security circles are made around the vehicle by plain or uniformed security personnel making it difficult for an unwanted person to sneak through all these cordons without notice. This cordon remains intact until the vehicle reaches a certain speed." Another possibility is that some security personnel might have given a tip about the security lapse to the terrorist network. Around 70 days before the Dec 27 incident that killed over 20 people, on Oct 18 suicide bombers targeted Benazir during her home-coming procession and killed over 130 people. Bhutto had blamed some al-Qaeda elements and claimed that they had penetrated into the country's intelligence agencies. Baitullah Mehsud has been denying his involvement in the two incidents. So far no other terrorist group has accepted responsibility. Although the government has invited Scotland Yard to assist Pakistani investigators, the PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari immediately rejected the president's decision and demanded a UN probe similar to the investigation into the death of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri. Rafik Hariri was killed on Feb 14, 2005, along with 21 others, when explosives were detonated as his motorcade drove in Beirut. There were allegations of Syrian involvement in the Hariri's killing. The US, EU and UN demanded an open and international investigation of the assassination. The Lebanese government agreed to the UN inquiry, though calling for the full participation, not supremacy, of its own agencies and the respect of Lebanese sovereignty. The UN team's report said there was "converging evidence pointing at both Lebanese and Syrian involvement in this terrorist act." Hariri's assassination -- for which the likely motive was political -- was complex and had obviously been planned for months, the report said. As such, it "could not have been taken without the approval of top-ranked Syrian security officials and could not have been further organised without the collusion of their counterparts in the Lebanese security services." President Musharraf has already addressed the question of political motivation by saying: "I have no doubt that Baitullah Mehsud of South Waziristan and Fazlullah of Swat, who were previously involved in the killing of many innocent people including those in Sargodha, Kohat and Rawalpindi, have got Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto killed." Therefore, it seems that the investigators are tasked only to identify the procedures that have been employed by them to carry out the killing. This they would be carrying out by reconstructing the crime scene as the actual scene was already washed out the day after the gory incident. Pakistan has a long history of unresolved mysteries of politically motivated acts that had killed prominent personalities and innocent civilians. Top of the list being Liaquat Ali Khan, the first prime minister of the country, who was killed on Oct 16, 1951 at Liaquat Bagh while addressing a public rally. He was twice fired at by Said Akbar from close range. Akbar was put to death by a security official. Killing the assassin erased all clues to the identity of the real culprit behind the murder. Later, the government appointed an inquiry commission under Justice Muhammad Munir but nothing much came out. The Apr 10, 1988 mystery of who blew up Ojhri ammunition depot in Rawalpindi killing over 100 people and injuring over 1000 still remains unresolved. The incident happened on the eve of Geneva Accord that ended a decade old conflict in Afghanistan. Exactly, 160 days after the Ojhri incident, the then President Ziaul Haq's plane was blown up.
What was the great hurry in hosing down the crime scene in Liaquat Bagh? Surely it should have been preserved. The crime scene of a suicide attack at a checkpost in nearby GHQ recently was not disturbed and examined closely by military and civilian investigators -- in fact this has often happened in such cases, so why wasn't this done on Dec 27? Why is Brigadiar (retd) Javed Iqbal Cheema, or those briefing him, so bent on denying the story the possibility that Ms Bhutto may have been killed by one or more bullets? The party's information secretary and a close aide of Ms Bhutto, Sherry Rahman, has insisted that she was at Ms Bhutto's side and also was part of the team that carried out her last rites. She says what she saw was clearly a bullet wound and that the government's theory that Ms Bhutto died as a result of her head hitting the right side level of her jeep's sun-roof was "ridiculous." The images and video grabs shown by several TV channels -- national as well as international -- clearly show that Ms Bhutto got down into her jeep immediately after the shots were fired. Whether she actually fell down after being hit is something that cannot be ascertained with any degree of certainty by looking at the footage. However, the belief that one or more bullet may have hit her is lent credence by the footage. Brigadier Cheema's insistence that "the facts" suggest that the PPP chairperson died as a result of her head hitting the sun-roof and not because of any bullet seems to suggest that the purpose may well be to deflect concerns about the lack of security. The footage of Ms Bhutto's last moments clearly shows that security was lax -- which is more of an understatement -- and that both the shooter and a man wearing a white cloth over his head and suspected to be the suicide bomber had come very close to the vehicle carrying Ms Bhutto. A tighter security cordon of even police constables may have prevented this from happening and would have surely been able to spot the young man wearing dark glasses who took aim and fired in the direction of Ms Bhutto. Also, what should one make of remarks by a doctor who saw Ms Bhutto's body and told the media that she died of a bullet wound? Later, in his first press conference Brigadier Cheema said he had a report written by several doctors which said that she had died after suffering a 'depressed fracture' as she hit the sun-roof's lever. However, the new and far clearer video which has emerged doesn't show that at all -- all it does show that her hair and shawl are disturbed immediately after shots are fired and then she falls through the sun roof. Images of the X-rays have been placed on some foreign newspaper websites and they show a massive fracture to a side of the skull. However, the cause of the fracture cannot be determined by merely looking at the X-rays -- which is precisely where the issue of the post-mortem, a legal requirement comes in. Asif Ali Zardari said during his press conference in Naudero on Dec 30 that he refused a request by the Punjab government to conduct an autopsy on his wife's dead body but his reason for refusal, as he said himself, has to do with the widely-held (and for good reason) belief that such things in this country are a sham and can be manipulated and tailored by the government of the day and the establishment for its own goals. Also, as it has been reported by Emily Wax in the Washington Post on Jan 1, doctors who tended to Ms Bhutto as she arrived at Rawalpindi General Hospital have said that they were "pressured by the government" to not share their findings with anyone and that all records pertaining to Ms Bhutto's presence at the hospital that day were taken away by the government. Why is this being done? What does the government/establishment have to hide? Who will answer these questions? All the more reason for an independent probe which is impossible unless we have objective investigators -- and where will we find objective investigators? Possibly, outside of the country (although it shouldn't be too much of a problem manipulating, twisting and/or concealing their findings if need be). Also, the government has already retracted an 'apology' that the caretaker prime minister made during a meeting of editors in Islamabad this past week saying that apology was not about the probable cause of Ms Bhutto's death but about the tone and tenor of the interior ministry's spokesman. This is odd because no one had any issue with Brigadier Cheema's tone or tenor but with what he was saying, specifically the question of how he was ascribing a cause to Ms Bhutto's death a day after her assassination -- and also conclusively coming to the identity of the killers. Even a layperson would know that a doctor's report cannot give conclusive proof of cause of death but rather goes into the extent of injuries or wounds caused and time of death and so on. As for Baitullah Mehsud, he is no angel but his spokesman has vehemently denied that he is behind the assassination. In any case, as some voices are now saying, it can be quite convenient for the real killers of Ms Bhutto to deflect blame and responsibility on the likes of Mr Mehsud. But one should not forget that this is the same tribal militant who in 2005 was, according to news reports, was paid a large sum of money to surrender -- up to 20 million dollars. The Taliban leader signed a 'peace deal' on Feb 7 of that year with then Peshawar Corps Commander Lt.-Gen. Safdar Hussain in attendance and according to this he was to stop targeting government officials and security forces personnel. This agreement, many would say, led to the creation of a de facto Taliban state in parts of North and South Waziristan. On Feb 23, 2005, the NWFP governor announced that military operations in North Waziristan were being suspended. The alleged transcript between Baitullah and an unnamed 'maulvi sahib' mentioned three names including one who is called 'Badr wala' or of Badr. So if the government claim is to be taken at face value then who is this 'Badr wala'? Does this mean that Al Badr, an outfit linked to fighting in Indian-Occupied Kashmir and believed to have had close links to intelligence agencies is involved in Ms Bhutto's assassination? Does this not then implicate other bigger players in the gruesome act as well? The writer is Op-ed Pages Editor of The News. Email: omarq@cyber.net.pk
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years, she scrupulously cultivated those friends, many from her days at
Harvard and Oxford. She was rewarded when her connections -- at the White
House, in Congress and within the foreign policy establishment -- helped
propel her into power in Pakistan. ...Although Ms Bhutto was twice expelled
from office on charges of corruption, she kept up her visits to Washington.
She would call on administration officials and members of Congress willing to
see her as well as reporters and editors at The New York Times, The
Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. Soon her American Christmas card
list, excluding people in government and Congress, was up to 375 names. ...
"She understood the nature of political life, which is to stay in touch
with people whether you're in or out of office," said Karl F Inderfurth,
former assistant secretary of state for South Asia who attended a dinner for
Ms Bhutto at the Willard Hotel on her last trip to Washington, in September.
"She was a superb political operative."
and journalists, many of whom had known her at either Harvard or Oxford. For
those with the standard Western prejudices against the Islamic world, she had
the added assets of a pronounceable name and a tolerant religious outlook.
She did not organise anti-American rallies or issue fatwas against
best-selling authors (despite Salman Rushdie's lampooning of her as the
"Virgin Ironpants" in his novel Shame). ...She was seen to greatest
effect on the campaign trail, where she was renowned for her hectoring
speeches and raucous motorcades. Face to face she could appear somewhat
haughty, not unlike her role model Margaret Thatcher. ...In Pakistan she was
often far less popular than her foreign press made out. To her opponents she
was more English than Pakistani, more Western than Eastern. Her Urdu,
although fluent, was ungrammatical, while her Sindhi, her family's mother
tongue, was almost non-existent.
her with sufficient security, she started touring the country two weeks ago.
One aim was to reacquaint herself with the people of Pakistan after her long
exile. But her performances, hectoring local workers not to allow the
government to rig the poll, calling for an end to militancy, and invoking the
legacy of her late father, were vintage Bhutto.
help Pakistani investigators in identifying the culprits but in the same
breath accused Baitual Mehsud and Maulana Fazalullah of masterminding
body. Later Dr Mussadiq Khan, principal of the Rawalpindi Medical College and
head of the medical team, denied having said that Benazir Bhutto had been
killed by the 'force of a blow as her head hit a lever on her car's
sun-roof.' He said the report had only outlined the findings of a 'clinical
examination' of Ms Bhutto's wound, and not what caused the wound itself. The
report said the cause of death was "an open head injury with depressed
skull fracture, leading to cardiopulmonary arrest". The X-ray does not
show the presence of any foreign element in the body.