On This Day: 27th December, 2007 - Benazir Bhutto is assassinated

[MenInG]

Despite a lapse of 14 years, the mystery surrounding the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who was murdered after addressing an election rally in Rawalpindi’s Liaquat Bagh, could not be solved, and the case is still pending in the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) Rawalpindi bench.

20 party workers were killed and 71 others were seriously injured in the attack on the former premier. In the aftermath of the incident, four inquiries were conducted into the high-profile case with the police joint investigation team (JIT), the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), the United Nations (UN) and Scotland Yard striving to solve the matter. However, these inquiries and investigations yielded no results as the Bhutto family did not pursue the case in the special anti-terrorism court (ATC).

A total of 12 challans were filed in this case, 355 appearances were recorded, 10 judges were changed and 141 witnesses, including 68 prosecution witnesses, testified. 16 people were accused in the case, but only eight of them were arrested. The main accused, Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud, was killed in a drone strike. Five other accused – Nadir Khan alias Qari, Nasrullah, Abdullah alias Saddam, Ikramullah, Faiz Muhammad Kaskat – were also killed in encounters with intelligence agencies at different places.

The suicide bomber who attacked the former prime minister was identified as Saeed Blakel, who died in the blast. The police arrested five accused Aitzaz Shah, Sher Zaman, Rashid Ahmed, Rafaqat and Hasnain Gul, and dumped the debris on them.

The FIA also arrested the then-president General (r) Pervez Musharraf, former city police officer (CPO) Saud Aziz and superintendent (SP) Rawal Khurram Shehzad as accused in the case. However, they were later granted bail by the high court.

On August 31, 2017, Judge Muhammad Asghar Khan of the special ATC pronounced the verdict in the Adiala Jail after nine years, acquitting five accused, and declaring Musharraf as a fugitive on absenteeism, and issued permanent arrest warrants, besides confiscating his movable and immovable property.

Meanwhile, police officers -- deputy inspector general (DIG) Saud Aziz and SP Khurram Shehzad -- were sentenced to a total of 17 years imprisonment and a fine of Rs1 million each for destroying evidence and breach of security. However, three months later, the high court suspended the sentences and released the two officers from jail. The CPO is now retired while the SP has now been promoted to the rank of DIG.

Appeals of the accused and plaintiffs have been pending in LHC’s Rawalpindi bench for over four years, and are expected to be heard in the last week of February 2022.

Former president Asif Ali Zardari has filed an appeal in the high court against the acquittal of the five accused in the case, and has sought to increase the sentences of both the police officers and to initiate trial against Musharraf in his absence.

The FIA has also filed appeals against the acquittal of the five accused while the convicted police officers have filed appeals against the sentences.

The three acquitted accused Aitzaz Shah, Sherzaman and Rafaqat have been released from jail. Meanwhile, two accused Rasheed Ahmed and Hasnain Gul are still locked up in Adiala Jail on various charges.

Federal government’s senior prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali was killed in a terrorist attack while pursuing the case.

After Benazir’s assassination, the PPP formed its government in the centre, but in its five-year tenure, the party failed to pursue this important case. Later, the case was partially disposed of during the tenure of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. The case is likely to land in the Supreme Court (SC) and it is not known when the case and appeals will be wrapped up.

The lawyers of the accused in this case Raja Ghanim Aber, Malik Jawad Khalid and Naseer Tanoli said that these appeals will be disposed of in the high court in 2022 and the matter is likely to be challenged in the apex court by the end of the new year.

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2335785/14-years-on-benazir-bhuttos-murder-still-remains-a-mystery

 

[KB]

One of the books I read this year was The Bhutto Dynasty, by Owen-Bennett Jones who for many years was the BBC correspondent in Pakistan. In his book he provides a fair-minded assessment of Benazir Bhutto:

“While her detractors found plenty to criticise, there was also much to praise. Throughout her life Benazir had articulated liberal positions, supported democratic development, spoken up for Pakistan’s minorities and provided not just a role model to women but also practical support: the Benazir Income Support Programme provided low-income families with cash transferred twice monthly into the bank account of a female member of the household. And there was her courage. In the years before her murder she was virtually alone in Pakistan in making clear, unambiguous and direct denunciations of the Taliban and their allies. Neither the army nor the right-wing politicians dared do so. Her bravery had been apparent too in 1986, when she gave up the comforts of London to take on General Zia. The optics of a young, single woman confronting a formidable and harsh military machine struck a chord in Pakistan and around the world. But for all that, even her keenest advocates conceded that her governments did not deliver as much as they had hoped. Weakened by her military, political, bureaucratic and clerical opponents, she never managed to assert her authority over the Pakistani state as a whole. And her democratic instincts did not extend to the PPP, which declared her, North Korea-style, chairman for life. She never managed to transform the organisation into a modern political party with internal democratic procedures. While many in the West saw her as a leader of moral clarity, advancing moderate Islam and democracy, many Pakistanis were more aware of how, like her father before her, she had always been willing to make compromises with the men in uniform if it eased her path to power. And then there was the corruption. While she may have seen making money as a necessary political tactic to help her compete against those who tried to outbid her, the well-filled foreign bank accounts gave opponents a stick with which to beat her, and her use of some of the money to buy very expensive jewellery made her a kleptocrat as well as a democrat.”

 

[MenInG]

We love seeing women support women, so we loved seeing New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern paying homage to the late Benazir Bhutto, the first and only woman prime minister of Pakistan, in her speech at Harvard University's commencement ceremony.

On Thursday, New Zealand's premier took the stage at Harvard University to speak to graduates. While she appreciated some of her country people being a part of the ceremony as graduating students, she spoke more about her "connection" to the late Benazir.

"In June 1989, the prime minister of Pakistan stood on this spot and delivered the commencement address titled Democratic Nations Must Unite. She spoke about her journey, the importance of citizenry, representative government, human rights and democracy," began Ardern.

She also added her personal experience of meeting Benazir in Geneva in June 2007. Ardern described it as a conference that drew together "progressive parties from around the world", Benazir being one of them. "Seven months later, she was assassinated. Now there will be opinions and differing perspectives written about all of us as political leaders. Two things that history will not contest about Benazir Bhutto — she was the first Muslim female prime minister elected in an Islamic country when women in power was a rare thing. She was also the first to give birth in office," she said.

"The second and only other leader to have given birth in office, almost 30 years later, was me," said Ardern. She shared that her daughter, Neve Te Aroha Ardern Gayford, was born on on June 21, 2018, Benazir's birthday.

"The path she carved as a woman feels as relevant today as it was decades ago. And so too is the message she shared here in this place. She said partway through her speech in 1989 the following, 'We must realise that democracy can be fragile.' Now I read those words as I sat in my office in Wellington, New Zealand, a world away from Pakistan. And while the reasons that gave rise to her words then were vastly different, they still ring true."

Ardern went on with her speech, appreciating what Benazir said 33 years ago and believed that indeed, "democracy is fragile".

https://images.dawn.com/news/119017...ys-glowing-tribute-to-the-late-benazir-bhutto

 

[daytrader]

PPP OBSERVES 15TH DEATH ANNIVERSARY OF BENAZIR BHUTTO TODAY

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) is observing the 15th death anniversary of the late Benazir Bhutto today, ARY News reported.

PPP Chairman and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari reached Larkana for marking the 15th death anniversary of his late mother and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

In his Twitter message, Bilawal said that he has reached Larkana and they will pay tribute to Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto on her 15th martyrdom anniversary.

He said that they drew inspiration from her heroic struggle versus dictatorship and extremism. “She taught us to serve the people, to strive for a #PakistanforAll not just privileged few.”

...
https://arynews.tv/ppp-to-observe-15th-death-anniversary-of-benazir-bhutto-today/

 

[Vatta]

"She taught us to serve the people, to strive for a #PakistanforAll not just privileged few.”

When lies become so ingrained and detachment from reality becomes so normalised, that Bilawal Zardari can say this with a straight face and means it.

 

[MenInG]

PPP Chairman and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari vowed on Tuesday to take slain former prime minister and his mother Benazir Bhutto’s mission forward and achieve it within the next 15 years.

“This journey will be completed by us together,” he said in an address at the party’s power show in Garhi Khuda Bux to mark the 15th death anniversary of Benazir Bhutto.

DAWN