Benazir Bhutto has, at the time of writing, been dead all of 30 hours and the version of events that caused her death has already changed at least three times and each version is so full of contradiction that at 1 a.m. in the morning of December 29 this is the scenario that I see — Ms BhuttoÕs death is an assassination committed by the lever of the sunroof of her car for which Al Qaeda has claimed responsibility and the government has amazingly efficiently produced recordings of terrorists congratulating each other on a job well done.
When John F Kennedy was killed by an assassinÕs bullet to the head in Dallas, Bertrand Russell wrote a piece in The Minority of One on September 6, 1964, where he said:
The official version of the assassination of President Kennedy has been so riddled with contradictions that itÕs been abandoned and rewritten no less than three times. Blatant fabrications have received very widespread coverage by the mass media, but denials of these same lies have gone unpublished. Photographs, evidence and affidavits have been doctored out of recognition. Some of the most important aspects of the case against Lee Harvey Oswald have been completely blacked out. Meanwhile, the FBI, the police and the Secret Service have tried to silence key witnesses or instruct them what evidence to give. Others involved have disappeared or died in extraordinary circumstances.
It is facts such as these that demand attention, and which the Warren Commission should have regarded as vital. Although I am writing before the publication of the Warren CommissionÕs report, leaks to the press have made much of its contents predictable. Because of the high office of its members and the fact of its establishment by President Johnson, the Commission has been widely regarded as a body of holy men appointed to pronounce the truth. An impartial examination of the composition and conduct of the Commission suggests quite otherwise.
Russell posed 16 questions to the commission. All of them seriously pertinent and despite the holes poked by Russell in the commissionÕs findings, or lack thereof, they remain unanswered. And the Kennedy assassination remains one of the biggest unsolved mysteries of modern times. ItÕs not even been two days since the murder of Ms Bhutto and Fox News is calling it PakistanÕs Kennedy murder. Do they know something we donÕt know? Or have they figured out that there can be no investigation where the crime scene has been sanitized. A short while after the tragedy fire tenders arrived at the scene of the assassination and hosed the entire place down. The evidence was literally washed away.
The most shocking thing is that there has been no post-mortem. As a result no one can say with certainty what the cause of death was. Well I have my own set of questions. How did Ms Bhutto die? Who killed her? Why? Was it a bomb? A bullet? A sunroof lever? A heart attack? How many bullets? Were they fired from the back, the front or the side? Were the shooter and the bomber the same person? Was there a sniper? I donÕt have the answer, in fact no one does. The answer has been buried in Garhi Khuda Bux.
By law an investigation into a matter like this is the responsibility of the state. This is not something they can opt out of. It is mandatory. The state is required to conduct a through investigation; which includes a post-mortem and the sealing off of the crime scene and only people with special equipment, gloves and soft shoes allowed to cross. The law also regards the washing down of a crime scene Ôtampering with the evidenceÕ. ItÕs called forensics. Forensic science is so advanced these days that with an expert, the right equipment and a secure crime scene you can solve these mysteries. You can tell where the bullet came from, the gun, who owned it and where they got it. Ask General Musharraf about the importance of forensic evidence and investigations. He has devoted whole chunks of his autobiography, In the Line of Fire, to the investigations carried out on the attacks on him. Did you know that mobile phones leave fingerprints on the airwaves? The man in charge of those investigations is now the chief of army staff. As General Kiyani knows to find a killer you need a clue but they have all been removed and there is nothing left to investigate.
Given that after the Karachi bomb blasts on October 18 she was so hugely concerned about her security and how she was not satisfied with it. Completely aware of the threats against her she continually asked for security. She expressed her concern as to her vulnerability on numerous occasions. She is now dead and no one is talking about the terrible breech in her security. In fact Makhdoom Amin Fahim made a surprising statement when he said if she had not put her head out of the sunroof she would be alive today. Almost as though it was her fault.
What is equally surprising is that there has been no demand from any quarter, not even her party, to carry out a post-mortem and investigation. And then, I am sure much to the relief of the government; she is buried quickly and quietly, at least as quietly as you can the most popular political leader in the country. Surely a two-time prime minister is entitled to a state funeral. A military dictator like Yahya who is blamed for the break-up of the country got a state funeral. Princess Diana, who was not on particularly cordial terms with the royal family, got a state funeral.
Everyone who should be making a noise is very quiet except for Ms BhuttoÕs main political rival, Mian Nawaz Sharif, who has been most vocal. He has demanded what Ms Bhutto had been demanding before she was assassinated. Free and fair elections monitored by an independent commission under the watchful eye of an independent caretaker set-up. Mr Sharif has added to this the resignation of the president. Nobody ever resigns in Pakistan, they have to be removed. ItÕs time to give that wall another push.
Something is not adding up and we donÕt want yet another unsolved murder, from Liaquat Ali Khan to Murtaza Bhutto no killer has ever been caught. The US State Department has said there should be an inquiry, perhaps the government will honour that request and round up the usual suspects. And today if anyone is offered up as a suspect in this case there can be no question of a conviction as there is no evidence. A judicial commission is being set up but be warned members of the commission, there is no body and no signs of any evidence to suggest how Ms Bhutto died.
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