Investigating Benazir's Assassination

Investigating Benazir's Assassination

Commodore Tariq Majeed PN (Retd)

The legendary fictional detective Sherlock Holmes with Dr Watson by his side was pondering over the murder case, when he suddenly exclaimed, "The dog, Watson, the dog!" "But, Holmes, the dog did not bark," said Dr Watson. "That's it, Watson. The dog—did not bark."

What Holmes meant was, had the intruder been a stranger, the dog would have barked. There was a key clue in it to the mystery.

Consider Sherlock Holmes looking into the circumstances of Benazir Bhutto's assassination on 27 December 2007 near Liaquat Bagh in Rawalpindi. He would have soon exclaimed, "The sunroof hatch, Watson, the sunroof hatch!" "But, Holmes, she just raised her head out of the hatch to wave back to her supporters." "That's it, Watson. "She raised her head out of the hatch—and the killers were ready waiting for that very move. "

Benazir was not supposed to raise her head out of the hatch. Something or someone prompted her. Some one should have stopped her, but did not. A vital clue has to be found here. An investigator would be debasing his own intelligence if he thought that the killers were counting on a lucky chance that Benazir might show up outside the hatch and they would accomplish their murderous mission.

No, there was no question of taking a chance. The schemers had to ensure that Benazir would protrude her head out of the hatch when her vehicle was at the chosen spot; their whole devilish scheme was hinged on this step. It was a prerequisite for their scheme. How did they arrange it? Finding it out will uncover very valuable leads.

We know from press reports that, "On 27 December, after Benazir's speech at the Liaquat Bagh gathering, when her vehicle reached Liaquat Road a mysterious crowd appeared all of a sudden and surrounded her vehicle, while shouting slogans in favour of People's Party and Benazir Bhutto. The vehicle was halted. At this Benazir emerged out of the sunroof to respond to their cheers."

Was this the only maneuver to halt her vehicle and prompt her to stand up and show herself out of the hatch? Highly unlikely. It was a very important objective. There must have been a couple of other catalysts to lead to that objective.

Look back at the August 1988 crash of President Zia's C-130 aircraft in which thirty other innocent persons, including the American ambassador and nine army officers of brigadier to 4-star general rank, and a precious lot of PAF officers and technicians, perished. Having selected the method and planned the killing operation, the masterminds employed a number of instruments to ensure that General Ziaul Haq would embark the aircraft to fly to Bahawalpur to watch demonstration of a new tank on the operation's D-Day, 17 August.

The chief, and most reliable, instrument was his former military secretary who was now an armoured division's commander in Multan and in charge of the demonstration, and who was on such intimate terms with the general as he was treated as a family member.

Zia was reluctant to go. The "family member" kept making repeated telephone calls requesting him to come and see the demonstration, till Zia relented; of course influenced also by the other ploys. The masterminds could not afford to fail. They had made foolproof arrangements not only for President Zia but also for General Akhtar Abdul Rahman and Ambassador Arnold Raphel, who both were on the masterminds' kill list, to make certain that they will be onboard the C-130.

Autopsy on Benazir Bhutto before burial was essential, but it was not performed. Reportedly, it was not permitted by her next of kin. No post-mortem was carried out in the case of the C-130 casualties, too. In that case the highest authorities in the army had prohibited post-mortem of the bodies. That was a part of the sinister scheme.

What about the present case? There was every reason, in fact a crying need, for a post-mortem of the awfully slain body. Was prohibiting post-mortem a personal decision of Asif Ali Zardari or was it a built-in programmed feature? It shouldn't be too difficult for a genuine investigator to find the correct answer and draw the right conclusion.

Post-mortem was also necessary to check if Benazir had been given a dose of any drug. There are drugs that can induce a calculated reaction or emotion in a person—and even at a programmed time. It could be seen in the television clips of her public address at Liaquat Bagh that she was emotionally intensely worked up. At one time she was shown with her arms thrust forward and upward and flailing them with unusual force. An example of how drugs can be used on political leaders and VIPs for specific purposes pertains to George Bush Sr, US president 1988-92.

In the 1992 election, the powerful clique in America, which wields decisive political influence, wanted Bush to lose and Bill Clinton to win. The US media depicted Clinton as youthful and full of energy and Bush as too old for the job and suffering from health problems. Bush went on a state visit to Japan. There was an exclusive banquet in his honour. Media men were not allowed in the banquet hall. Bush arrived accompanied by the Japanese premier. As they sat down, Bush, who habitually drank some water before dinner, lifted the glass of water that had been placed for him and drank from it. The next moment he threw up, his vomit falling on the lap of the Japanese premier! A photographer, who, the media said, had been hiding under a table, took the picture of the US president throwing up in the lap of the prime minister of Japan.

The story did incalculable, or rather well-calculated, harm to Bush's image in the American public. The scheme's masterminds, knowing Bush's habit, used a drug that if taken with water induces uncontrollable vomiting. It should also be obvious that the masterminds, remaining thousands of miles away, can get things done through local tools.

Princess Diana did not die in an unforeseen car accident. The accident was pre-planned. She was murdered by design. The chauffeur of her car had been drugged.

There is another close similarity between the two shocking crimes, the assassination of President Ziaul Haq and that of Benazir Bhutto. Actually, the "shock effect" itself is an element common to them. The dreadful cruelty and the precision and suddenness with which it was inflicted in each case were meant to psychologically paralyze the public that was a deliberate aim of the master schemers.

However, the close similarity mentioned above is the swift cleaning out of the site of crime. In this respect, what the Shafiur Rehman Inquiry Commission on the C-130 crash observed in its report was something like this: [Soon after the crash], "The personal items and baggage of the deceased persons had been removed from the scene, and the signs and marks which these items carried, and which had to be preserved in order to unfold the secrets had been [quickly] effaced." The same thing happened in the current case. The site of Benazir's assassination was cleaned up with extraordinary speed and efficiency. There can be no doubt that it was a programmed feature, just as it was so in the assassination of Ziaul Haq and 30 others. Again, intelligent investigators can trace from it substantial leads to the local criminals and accomplices.

The investigators should closely examine Ziaul Haq's assassination case, the details and analysis of which can be found in the book Masterminds of Air Massacres: of August 17 in Pakistan and September 11 in America.

It would give them valuable new insight not only on discovering the local tools and pawns who executed the scheme's various tasks but also the identity of the real criminals, the masterminds. Profound perceptiveness and sincerity of purpose is necessary for the investigators to comprehend the masterminds' deeply destructive aims against Pakistan. These aims would reveal the real reasons behind the murder they are investigating.

The foreign investigators may find the local culprits but will never point to the real masterminds. The masterminds of Benazir's assassination are the same who assassinated Ziaul Haq.

Strange are the vagaries of fate.