Pakistan, a year after Benazir Bhutto's murder

Thousand and thousands of people visited, on Dec. 27, 2008, Pakistan's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's mausoleum in her family graveyard in Garhi Khuda Bukh to remember her and to pay tributes. Even after a year the question is still un-answered 'who killed Miss Bhutto?' Although her husband Asif Ali Zardari is the president of the country, the mystery is still unresolved. At the same time, a new debate has started as Zardari said in his address to a gathering on the Dec. 27 that he knows the names of her murderers without disclosing their names.

Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on Dec. 27, 2007 by a suicide bomber after a public rally, where 20 more were also killed, in Rawalpindi, a mile away from the place where her father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was hanged by Pakistani history's notorious military dictator General Zia-ul-Haq.

Just after a day of her murder, Brig. Javed Iqbal Cheema, a spokesperson of Interior Ministry, told media that Baitullah Mehsud, 35, a Taliban militant commander based in South Waziristan, is responsible for Pakistan's iconic opposition leader Bhutto's murder. Cheema reportedly disclosed a telephone conversation of Mehsud with one of his operatives. He also issued government's version about the cause of Bhutto's (chairperson of Pakistan People's Party (PPP), largest political party and ruling the country now), murder which raised more questions than answers.

Adnkronos International, an Italian news agency received a call from Al Qaeda's Afghan commander Mustafa Abu Al-Yazid, who took the responsibility of this act. On the other hand, Mehsud denied any involvement in her death. Shortly before Bhutto's return from her self exile to Pakistan, on Oct. 18, 2007, Daily Times, a Pakistni English newspaper, reported a statement of Mehsud, based on Senator Saleh Shah, that he was determined to kill Bhutto, while the senator totally denied the statement. Moreover, Al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden made no mention of the assassination of Bhutto in his message which was issued on Dec. 30, 2007. According to PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar, Mehsud twice sent a message to Bhutto that he is not her enemy. Human Rights Commission of South Asia also rejected Al-Qaeda factor in Bhutto's killing.

However, analysts say, it is unlikely that the government intercepted a highly secretive conversation so easily and recognized Mehsud's voice but not its location. Interestingly, Hamid Nawaz Khan, caretaker interior minister has his own version which some how contradicts Cheema's claim. PPP has firmly rejected government's initial findings. Daily 'The News,' a Pakistani English daily, published a news item on Jan. 1, 2007 which says that during a high-powered briefing to the newspaper editors, Interior Minister Khan apologized for the highly provocative comment made by the Interior Ministry spokesman about the cause of Bhutto's death.

While the Ministry of Interior has clarified that minister did not apologize. As a matter of fact he had merely appealed to the editors to overlook the tone and style of the spokesman which may not have been received well. It is an interesting question that why the government of former President Pervez Musharraf was in a hurry to declare the cause of death of Bhutto and the name of the murderer while the investigation was in its initial stage.

In December 2007, Sherry Rehman, information secretary of PPP and at present Federal Information Minister, rejected the version of government of that time, and said Bhutto was killed by a bullet. "The government's (former President Pervez Musharraf) version — has not cut ice with the public for two main reasons: lack of credibility and lack of consistency," Daily Times said on Dec. 30, 2007, "Britain's Channel 4 News has broadcasted a new video of the attack on Bhutto, described the video as 'apparently contradicting the official version of events, which insists that Bhutto was not shot.'

Right after the attack, Bhutto was brought to Rawalpindi General Hospital where doctors tried to save her life but she did not survive. Media has also shown suspicion why a doctor has changed his earlier statement about the cause of Bhutto's death. Furthermore, government pressurized the doctors of Rawalpindi General Hospital and asked them not to say anything about Bhutto's death.

Most Pakistanis believe that the "agencies" did it. "Some leading commanders in the Pakistan's intelligence service, the ISI, have long opposed the Bhutto family, still others have had close ties to leading Islamists since the 1970s, and the organization has long been used by successive Pakistani leaders to suppress political opposition," says daily The Star of Dec. 29, 2007. Sardar Asif Ali, a PPP's leader, has the same stand. Bhutto, herself, in August 2007, "referenced repeated threats to her life from Islamic militants as well as the ties, the ISI, continued to foster with Taliban elements," Council on Foreign Relations says on Dec. 28, 2007. Therefore, Hussein Haqqani, a PPP leader and currently Pakistan's Ambassador to USA, said he believed Pakistan's security services were complicit in the assassination of his friend," reported by the New York Sun on Dec. 28, 2007.

Hillary Rodham Clinton, President Obama's Foreign Secretary, raised the possibility that the country's military might have assassinated Bhutto because the killing took place in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, News Day reported on Dec. 30, 2007. However, Pakistan takes strong exception to Hillary's comment.

According to Washington Post, "Bhutto's supporters pinned responsibility on allies of (former President) Musharraf." Bhutto's PPP was the major runner of the general elections, which were held on Feb. 18 this year. Many international surveys disclosed, Musharraf's kings party (PML-Q) had fewer chances to perform well in the parliamentary elections which would create problem for Musharraf's own survival. Many do not ignore this angle and say Bhutto might have been killed by those elements who got some benefit of her death. "The Musharraf camp would gain the most from her death," Harpers says.

Bhutto's husband, Asif Ali Zardari called PML (Q) 'qatil (killer) league.' Before coming back to Pakistan, on Oct. 18, 2007 Bhutto sent a letter to Musharraf in which she blamed a chief minister of that time, a head of an intelligence agency and a retired general for any attack on her. Her welcome rally was attacked in Karachi in October 2007, where 130 were dead and around 550 injured. A senior journalist Nazir Leghari writes in daily Jang, the most popular Urdu newspaper in Pakistan, on Jan. 1, 2008, that Bhutto told journalists that the plan of her killing (on Oct. 18, 2007 at her welcome rally in Karachi) was made on Oct. 15, 2007 and the planners spent 30,000,000 rupees (about US$428571) on it. The government started an investigation, still nobody knows of its findings.

Moreover, many Pakistanis blame Musharraf for not providing Bhutto with adequate security. "Two months before her death, Bhutto sent an e-mail to her US adviser, saying that if she were killed, Musharraf would bear some of the blame," says CNN. The chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Joseph Biden, a leading presidential candidate of the USA for the election 2008, said that the Pakistani government was "indirectly complicit" in Bhutto's assassination because it failed to provide adequate security to her. Zardari, Bhutto's widower complained that the Bush administration failed to press Musharraf's government hard enough to provide adequate security for his wife during her elections campaign.

According to media reports, the government of that time immediately tried to remove and clean all the evidences from the scene. Aljazeera TV network showed footage where 'people' cleaned up the debris with big water pipes on the same day and washed away all the evidences. Analysts also showed their concern on it.

Bhutto's murder erupted violence countrywide. Fifty-three people died, 81 injured, 185 banks, hundreds of vehicles, about 1000 vehicles in Karachi alone, were put on fire. Railway stations, engines and railway tracks were burnt. It cost millions of dollars to business. It was obvious that government machinery totally failed to provide security to the common people or it was pre-planned.

The former government had announced two different inquiries; one by a high court judge and other, a departmental inquiry head, by a Deputy Inspector General (Police). The question raised, while that regime itself was under question marks, would those inquiries had any credibility? Due to the track record of the governments it is hard to believe that these inquiries will bring any result.

The present government of PPP has filed a application to the UN for an inquiry of Bhutto's murder. The application is principally accepted but still there is no visible move on that side. The anti PPP political leaders forcefully objected the government's move for UN inquiry but those who are familiar with Pakistani politics have agreed that it was a right move in a right direction. There is no doubt that still establishment is more powerful than the political government of PPP, Bhutto's party. Obviously, anti-PPP elements in the establishment can influence the inquiry process but for them it would be hard to influence UN inquiry team.

Right after the murder of Bhutto the country was in a terrible phase. During that turbulence some political leaders, especially two former chief ministers, rather were talking about the unity of the federation and people of Pakistan, issuing such statements which ignite the division among masses of the country. Bhutto's murder was a visible move against the democratic forces and especially against the PPP, which is the only national political party and able to unite the country against dictatorship and militancy. Due to various reasons, it is not possible for Zardari to disclose the names of Bhutto's murders. T

here is no doubt that people of Pakistan want to see the faces of the murderers without delay, but the present complex political situation of the country does not permit it. A big question remains: Who killed Bhutto? The time will come when people will get the answer of this question. At the same time, another question needs to be answered that if the life of the country's prominent political leader was not safe how would the life of a common person be safe in Pakistan. The establishment of the country should address this question, which is sooner the better.

Noticeably, despite the 'big' loss of the country, common people of Pakistan still have belief in democracy where political parties can take all measures which will put country in a right direction and move Pakistan forward to save democracy.

Aftab Mughal edits Minority Concern newsletter in Pakistan.