Musharraf let off the hook in Benazir’s murder probe

ISLAMABAD: A few days before her assassination, late Benazir Bhutto had told more than six different people that Pervez Musharraf should be held responsible if she was killed. But nobody has asked Musharraf any question in this regard even a year after her murder.

---

The leadership of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party is of the firm opinion that some powerful elements within the Musharraf regime were part of the conspiracy against Benazir Bhutto. She was assassinated on December 27 last year with a sophisticated laser gun but the ruling party has so far failed to identify the killers. Highly-placed sources in the Pakistan People’s Party say they have no faith in the investigations conducted by Musharraf into the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. The PPP leadership believes that the Interior Ministry’s version, given soon after the tragedy of Liaquat Bagh, is totally fabricated and some suspects arrested in connection with her assassination are just scapegoats. The PPP leadership thinks that no investigation could be completed without questioning former president Pervez Musharraf and his close associates. But President Asif Ali Zardari has given an assurance to the head of a friendly country that no action will be taken against Musharraf by his government. That is the reason the PPP is depending upon the United Nations for investigation into Benazir Bhutto’s assassination. President Zardari gave this assurance to a powerful king in the presence of Afghan President Hamid Karzai just a few days after the removal of Musharraf. It is learnt that President Asif Ali Zardari ordered a secret inquiry into the assassination of his wife immediately after becoming the President of Pakistan. Interior Adviser Rehman Malik started collecting important evidence and documents to help the upcoming UN investigations. Some important police officials posted in Rawalpindi last year are under close observation for the last three months. The PPP government wants to know who actually ordered to wash the crime scene within one hour of the incident. It was learnt during the inquiry that the then chief of Rawalpindi Police, Saud Aziz, issued these orders after receiving a phone call from a close associate of Musharraf. The caretaker interior minister in December 2008, Lt Gen (retd) Hamid Nawaz, was informed by Saud Aziz that he washed the crime scene after securing some important evidence because vultures and crows were gathering around the spot. On the other hand, eyewitnesses say that there were no vultures and crows at the time because it was dark at 6:30 in the evening. The Interior Ministry is also trying to know why the autopsy of late Benazir Bhutto was not conducted in the Rawalpindi General Hospital. Doctors of the hospital have conveyed to the PPP leadership that they go for autopsy only on the instruction of police but they never got any instructions from the police on December 27 last year. Again, it was DIG Saud Aziz who spoke to Asif Ali Zardari on the night of December 27 at the Chaklala Air Base, Rawalpindi, just a few minutes before a C-130 plane transported the body of Benazir to Larkana. Saud Aziz inquired from Zardari if he wanted the autopsy to be conducted. Zardari told him that the time of autopsy had passed and that they could not go back to hospital for autopsy. Reliable sources in the government disclosed that it was still possible to nab the assassins of Benazir Bhutto without an autopsy report because there was still a lot of irrefutable evidence against many important personalities associated with Pervez Musharraf. Sources claim that Interior Adviser Rehman Malik himself is the prime witness. He warned Benazir Bhutto in September 2007 in Dubai that she would be killed in Pakistan. Again Benazir told him in November 2007 that “they will kill me”. Only Rehman Malik knows who wanted to kill Benazir. Rehman Malik was also present in the meeting between the DG ISI Lt Gen Nadeem Taj and Benazir in the wee hours of December 27, 2007 at the Zardari House in Islamabad. Malik told this scribe that Benazir only discussed the political matters with the DG ISI and security issues were not discussed. On the other hand, sources close to the then DG ISI claim that he had warned Benazir about the security threats and had requested her not to appear in public meetings. The next day Rehman Malik expressed concern over the security of Benazir Bhutto and he even exchanged hot words with Naheed Khan on the security issue. Rehman Malik tried to stop Benazir from going to Liaquat Bagh while Naheed Khan wanted Benazir to attend the public meeting. Naheed Khan told this scribe, “I was not aware of Benazir’s meeting with the DG ISI, I was not told what was discussed between the DG ISI and Benazir just a few hours before her assassination.” Another prime witness could be American journalist Ron Suskind who recently wrote a book “The Way of the World”. It is learnt that Ron Suskind was a confidant of Benazir. He helped her in writing her last book, which was published after her death. He spent some time with Benazir during her election campaign. It was none other than Benazir herself who told him that Musharraf had warned her: “Your security depends upon your relationship with me”. Just a few days before her assassination, Benazir Bhutto told this scribe in Zardari House, Islamabad, that the attack on her procession in Karachi on October 18 was not a suicide attack, it was actually a car bomb but she survived. Benazir Bhutto said that some people within the regime were behind the attack and they will try again to kill her. Benazir said that it was tragic that the people responsible for the murder of her two brothers were still at large but her would-be killers will definitely be punished because her party will be in power. Unfortunately, her killers are still at large despite the fact that her party is in power.

---