Benazir’s Murder: Who Killed Her?

good analysis.she was more popular than liaquat.liaquat was elected from a seat surrendered by bengalis like ghulam mohammad , however she was twice elected prime minister and that too on direct adult franchise.

"But the Musharraf regime has already been as conspicuously lacking in grace in dealing with the aftermath of BB as it was in its treatment of her in life."(author)

Exactly -- the responsibility for Benazir murder squarely sits on Musharraf's shoulders. Mehsud my foot.

Who Killed Her?



1. In the words of manto : "Racist, fascist freak gandhi killed her"

2. The jihadis the paki state(including benazir, when she was PM) nurtured.

"And why wasn’t BB’s body post-mortem not carried out?" It wasn't; so you must be happy. Oh, do you mean "And why wasn’t BB’s body post-mortem carried out?" Probably because the PPP followers would have rioted even more if the govt had said that we aren't going to release her body for another few days and we are going to cut her up to see exactly what killed her.

It is emblematic of how low the professional competence of the Pakistani establishment has fallen that this clown was an Ambassador. He is as bad as any retired General given a sinecure and a retirement holiday in a foreign country at the nation's expense.

I agree with the basis argument that Musharraf and his Chaudhuries are destroying the country to suit their personal agendas but, given BB's and NS's track record, why does anyone think 'democracy' would be a good idea for Pakistan? Why isn't any of the myriad of Pakistan-well-wishers out here on Chowk calling for 'rule of law' in Pakistan. Oh, yes, 'rule of law' would automatically disqualify BB, NS, PM, the Chaudhuries and 99% of Pakistani politicians. I'd probably vote for Aitzaz Ahsan but the man is going nowhere.

# 4, your tirade on the author is childish and unbecoming. The gentleman is a retired career diplomat (I assume from a competitive CSS exam). Judging from his Chowk page, he was never a political appointee (on his Chowk page it says that he served in various countries for 35 years).

In fact, incompetent generals are presently usurping the posts of career diplomats at a scale hitherto unknown.

"PML-N decides to take part in polls

Updated at Sunday, December 30, 2007 2040 PST

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) has decided to take part in the elections, which will be held on January 8."(Jung News)

Now this is exactly the right way and the civilized way to avenge the murder of your sister, Nawaz sahib -- hold Amin Fahim and Aitzaz Ahsan hands -- raise your combined fists -- against the real perpetrators of Benazir's assassination -- and give them hell!

Congratulations on your right decision.

#4 Posted by fuzair

Wow! For the first time Fuzair is partially right about something.

“It is emblematic of how low the professional competence of the Pakistani establishment has fallen that this clown was an Ambassador. He is as bad as any retired General given a sinecure and a retirement holiday in a foreign country at the nation's expense.”

I agree a 100% with him here. The diplomat’s qualification and ability to understand the issue is clearly questionable.

” Musharraf and his Chaudhuries are destroying the country to suit their personal agendas”

I disagree and would replace Musharaf with Army. So it should read as “the Army and Chaudhries and many other politicians are destroying the country”.

The army is responsible for what is happening in the country now and the Army cannot extract itself from this murder. The army is culpable and must show that its hands are clean by agreeing to an international inquiry and opening its papers and allowing its agencies to testify in the inquiry!

Some pictures from Karachi

http://faisalk.wordpress.com/2007/12/30/anarchy-in-pictures/

#3 Posted by arjun_ on December 30, 2007 5:18:25 am

"Who Killed Her?"

Read my last ilog.

I was in shock the first day, i cried the second day, but today the third day I am disgusted & in a sense relieved that she is gone.

The will of her is the stinking fart which just brought me to realize that all her life she thought of the Paki Awam as her Jaidad, which her son and should inherit.

WTF. Is this the democracy she preached. It was another thing if the CEC of PPP met and decided that due to the sympathy & current environment we will give bilawal a position in party to win the election. But her writing that in a will is a shamefull sin.

BB may have died a couple of days ago, but I will always remember this as the day demorcracy was murdered by the one who took the oath to protect it. SHAME.

And also SHAME on everyone who still want to be affiliated with PPP.

Re: # 10 I also felt bad for tragic way end of next PM.
Now I believe you cried , but still can not believe unrelated common educated man/woman cried for tragedy. Humans are different

This is from the other board in which I was responding to Bulleya's veiled support for Army overlordship in Pakistan, it is relevent for the Who Killed Her question so I am reposting it here

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#11 Posted by masadi on December 30, 2007 3:08:49 pm
bulleya writes "in pakistan's case, this is a fiefdom.....much different from a dynasty "

Once again, clueless generalizations that are the hallmark for military apologists of Pakistan. The PPP was an anomaly, it was not the same colonial/feudal nexus that defined the politics of the MAJ. It was something new in that it awakened the masses to their rights and their worth, contrary to the feudal image of them. What is happening at the top, the manipulation of the Bhutto name is for the purpose of managing the powerbase of the party, the people, whose support for the party was located not in the name of Bhutto but in the socialistic principles he embodied and struggled for. Benazir coopted her father's principles and reverted to the colonial/feudal nexus of the past in large reason due to the fate she saw her father suffer and (and bulleya deliberately evades this connection) that all political players have to operate under the shadow of the Pakistan Army, which by the way as an instituion operates in a monarchial way moreso than what any feudal can muster, considering the country to be its papa's Jagir to be taken over, used and abused at will. Right now the ppp has been hijacked by Zardari and his alliance with the military/US PML-Q faction. I wouldn't be surprised if he conspired using trusted insiders to get rid of the BB.

blithe, you are absolutely right when you wrote:

{# 4, your tirade on the author is childish and unbecoming. The gentleman is a retired career diplomat (I assume from a competitive CSS exam). Judging from his Chowk page, he was never a political appointee (on his Chowk page it says that he served in various countries for 35 years).}

He was a career diplomat through and through and passed the CSP exam with distinction and honors.
As for #4 (and HP, following is a infectious illness, so be careful) what else can you except from someone who’s suffering from the hoof and mouth disease.

The Kennedy style assassination of Benazir Bhuto is a major attempt,by forces who view the geopolitical scenario differently or have a vested interest or stake in the present political order in Pakistan , to render null and void the US plan to impose a civilian political leader in Pakistan who could deliver the goods and be effective in translating US policy goals into practice.In this statement lies the answer to who or who could have been behind this assassination plot.The USA since 9/11 has invested a considerable amount of funds in Pakistan in order to achieve their foreign policy aims.There has been a growing feeling in USA as well as its NATO allies that the Pakistani military junta was playing a kind of double game.That it was hunting with the hounds and running with the foxes.Further it was felt in the vest that the military junta of Pakistan lacked popular support and was more a liability than an asset .Without going into any conspiracy theories , even a layman can assess that there was someone ,may be an individual,a group , or a class who was not happy about the idea of power sharing with a person of Benazir’s stature or effectiveness.That she was regarded as the most serious potential threat once she had entered the corridors of power.If the above premise is accepted then any who is anything in Pakistan in the institutional or political sense could be a party in this assassination.The reason that they did so was that they feared that her policies would rock the boat and transform the power equation in a significant manner.A cursory glance at the assassination proves that it was a well planned affair and the planners had carefully studied the previous patterns of Benazir’s public addresses.The planners knew that a suicide blast was ineffective against a bullet proof vehicle.The planners knew that entire faith would have to be placed in the kinetic energy of the projectile released by a fire arm.The blast was aimed at removing the evidence i.e the person who fired the shots.Man as Machiavelli stated act out of necessity or choice.. In case of Benazir the assassinating group or persons acted out of necessity.They felt that she had to be physically removed.The premise for this decision was that she was the centre of gravity of the PPP and once she is off the scene any of her successors , even if they won the elections were good enough for business because they were more pliable and did not possess Benazir’s phenomenal intellect and political acumen.The perpetrators also did not foresee the type of popular backlash that took place after Benazir’s assassination.It may be theorized that Benazir’s assassination had two teams , one the apparent visible perpetrator group caught in the camera and scond an invisible actual perpetrator group in a 100 to 300 metre radius of the venue.The visible perpetrator group or the Suicide bomber and the gun slinger team was used to prove that this was an act of the bad dog Al Qaeda ! The gun shot was fired from a close range of less than 6 metres to ensure accuracy.Multiple shots were fired so that they could act as a cover up for sniper shots by causing confusion.Now the question of the suicide bombers and the assassin who fired the gunshots.These clowns are not difficult to find in Pakistan.These can be enrolled by any intelligence agency operatives who penetrate an extremist organization disguised as motivated soldiers of Islam.The technique was perfected by the Czarist Okhrana and this concept was known as agent provocateur.It has also been stated that suicide bombers families are paid between 5 to 10 million rupees.In a nutshell the suicide team was used to give the whole affair an Al Qaeda look.The most crucial part of the assassination could have been the sniper group well deployed in any of the surrounding buildings in a 500 metre radius.Present day sniper rifles are fully silenced like the VSS Russian Sniper Rifle having a fully silenced and flashless range of 100 metres. And the AS silent sniper rifle which can penetrate even a bullet proof jacket at 400 metres range.Evidence was very swiftly destroyed and no post mortem carried out so the caliber of bullet that did the fatal job is not discovered.Benazir’s assassination was a perfection of the Liaquat Ali Khan assassination carried out in the same venue 56 years back.At that time suicide bombing had not been introduced so the evidence i.e the gun man was not destroyed.That went against the intelligence agencies of that time as the assassin was a paid operative of a Pakistani civilian intelligence agency.The group or the people who organized this assassination learnt from that faux pas and made sure in this case that the main evidence i.e the evident perpetrators were destroyed.The significance of this assassination lies in the fact that Benazir’s party is far better organized than the Muslim League that Liaquat Ali Khan led and that Benazir was a popular leader whose party had won three elections conducted on popular franchise, The significance of this assassination lies in the fact that Pakistan is a far more aware society than in 1951.We hope that Benazir assassination will act as a major catalyst in restoring democracy to Pakistan.The fatal shots have been fired.The forces who want to preserve the status quo have played their turn .Now the initiative to counter attack or to change the status quo is with the PPP provided it has a leader who has resolution to do so ! Now it is the game of greater resolve.The Goddess of victory favours those who are audacious !

Veteran diplomat Ghori is exactly right in raising these questions -- who killed Benbazir and how and why -- and who was that gunman -- why he is being protected -- these are the questions the whole international diplomatic corp is asking -- nobody believes that Cheema moron's cockamamie ever changing story:


* A diplomat asks why the govt is so eager to avoid acknowledging the role of a gunman?"

By Khalid Hasan

WASHINGTON: Western diplomats told Los Angeles Times, according to a report published on Sunday, that they found the Pakistani government statements on the assassination of Benazir Bhutto worrying in their wider implications.

“It’s not only that this is not a credible account of what happened – that’s obvious on the face of it,” said a
diplomat familiar with security matters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

He was commenting on the government’s changing version of the assassination, which, in its third take attributed Benazir’s death to a head injury suffered as she fell through the opening of the vehicle she was in.

An eager govt: A Western diplomat told the newspaper, “It’s that it raises questions about why the government is so extraordinarily eager to avoid acknowledging the role of a gunman, whether or not the wounds were fatal. At the very least, it’s puzzling.”
________________________________________________________
Several analysts said the use of a handgun in addition to explosives is a departure for militant groups in Pakistan.
_______________________________________________________

“This is not by any means a signature killing by Al Qaeda,” security analyst Nasim Zehra told the Los Angeles Times,

“A targeted shooting, even in combination with a familiar suicide bombing, makes it look more like a political killing than one by some militant group.”

Columnist Ikram Sehgal said, “Obviously, they were studying her movements in the course of the political campaign. Inside the rally, it was relatively secure; her problem was entering and leaving. She was highly vulnerable at that time. It was done very professionally.

It was a ‘hit’.”

That degree of professionalism suggests to some experts the hand of Pakistan’s security apparatus, which has previously aided and abetted militant groups, including the Taliban, according to the newspaper’s correspondent who filed the report from Pakistan.

Also quoted was security analyst Ayesha Siddiqa, “The agencies have ongoing connections with the militants. It’s very simplistic to talk about the militants doing this and doing that, all the while acting alone.”

It indeed was a hit' -- not an unexpected event but a killing known to happen -- the relaxed way with no sense of urgency the police and the SP wallking liesurly among the carnage with no intention of collecting evidence with the evidence being hosed out in a matter of fact way before the international video cameras -- as if a routine mission accomplished as expected. -- doesn't look like a job done by Musharraf's friend Baitullah sahib in Msuharraf's Baitul Muqaddas Rawalpindi -- but by Muqqaddas Musharraf sahib himself.

I keep thinking... what the heck runs in the mind of the suicide bomber? What wonderful stuff was he promised by his superiors to commit such an act? The same applies to suicide bombers the world over... I can't make sense of it, but it sure is scary to think of suicide bombing as becoming commonplace.

-zensufi-