The Red Dress

lajjobhai

plis minding own bznizz..also 20, naat 16, okayy?

Anny beHen,

Waht this father- dghter rellation?? haiN??/ Its Amrecan culture. Plzz dont see movezz like AMRECAN BEUTY...Givez bad name to Izlam ..ok?

aap he bata sakteein hai ..kya yeh theek haii?haiN?

PLzz drik some SHATTAP juice ..ok? me freD? ok?

Mr. Butthead321

``On my post below, even the first part as you state it is wrong.``

``You got this part somewhat right (I had a relative who was present at that dramatic meeting in Murree).``

I think you gotta make up your mind, as to what you want to say....but I am not surprised as I see tens of splitheads everyday at chowk.

Yours truly,
Beavis.

progressive #42 given the backwardness of the most fervent muslim proselytizers, and given the arrogance and hatreds prevalent among many Arabs in particular, it would be a great pity if we were to have any more converts to the ``islam`` as these people understand it.

There has no doubt been a run on books on Islam, but these are mostly books written by five or six western scholars and two or three Pakistani writers. Not the garbage written by people like Sahih Bukhari that these people treat as their sacred book. And no doubt these best-selling books correctly point to the overall beauty of the true Islam - it`s emphasis on peace, honesty, simplicity, and so on. This is true Islam, not the Islam that these Islamist Chauvinists understand. If they were not chauvinists, and true muslims, they would realize that muslims are not a ``chosen people``, there are no chosen people, and that Islam calls for respect to all faiths, and that you can be a muslim and go to hell and be a non-muslim and go to heaven.

These are foreign concepts of those ``brothers`` who run around congratulating themselves on what they think is the spread of Islam. The fact is that most people in the world associate islam with terrorism, and where there is smoke there is fire. Let these Islamists first convert to civilized human beings, and then they can start preaching to others.

Ras Siddiqui #63 Interesting account by Asghar Khan and it provides some new information on Zia`s primer on ``How to bootlick bosses and bootkick ex-bosses, journalists, and others``. He omits Zia`s brutal crackdown on the palestinians in Jordan (where he was heading a tank brigade for the King) in the late 1970`s, and which was remembered ever since by the palestinians as ``Black September``.

urstruly #44 On my post below, even the first part as you state it is wrong. Bhutto did not go ``berserk``, although he did give Zia a piece of his mind. While I have no love for either Bhutto or Zia, and consider them to have done more damage to Pakistan than all external forces put together, rest assured they were both grown up men, not half-brained idiots of the kind one sometimes finds on chowk...

urstruly #44 you write: ``A relative in army once told me that in Murree Bhutto actually went breserk; according to his words ``Bhutto nay tay odhi (Zia`s) maaN behan ik kar ditti``.`` You got this part somewhat right (I had a relative who was present at that dramatic meeting in Murree). Bhutto, arrogant and defiant till the end. When told of the gallows being prepared for him, he told his jailors that he wanted not one but 8 gallows to be set up, since he planned to hang not one but 8 generals. His definance no doubt left Zia withh little choice (even he had wanted to exercise it) but to carry out the execution.

Being you, you had to continue and add bs: ``Zia in return took off his belt and beat the living daylights out of Bhutto. `` This is a figment of your imagination - Zia was far more subtle than that, and was always self-effacing with others and at times even diffident (he would for example almost invariably flatter people by graciously showing them to the door - even after he had gently informed them that he had a file of charges prepared on them, and unless they started behaving he would use that file to put them away.).

{{When the Christians of Najran were exposed to the verses of the Koran, the tradition says they burst into tears and converted to Islam. }}

hehe...and then the spaceship landed, and transported them all to heaven...

lajjobhai

plis minding own bznizz..also 20, naat 16, okayy?

Since this is a board of Zafar from India ,story of love & romance like that of Manju & riyaz qureshi

THE ONE CURE FOR COMMUNALISM,SECTERIANISM & PROVENCIALISM WAS TOUTED INTER COMMUNAL MARRIAGES .AMONG THE INDIANS INTERRASCIAL MARRIAGE IS THE HIGHEST BOTH LINGUAL AS WELL AS RELIGOUS.WHILE THAT WOULD WORK FOR INDIAN IDENTITY DEVOID OF HYPHENATED INDIAN UNLIKE MOSTYTY OF AMERICANS WHO ATLEAST HAS ONE MORE IDENTITY IRISH,JEWISH,INDIAN,OR ARAB BESIDES .

WHAT KIND OF MESSAGE ARE THE RSS,BAJRANGI ,BJP.VHP.RSS SENDING PURITY OF HINDUTVA RACE ,ZIONISM,MUSLIMS HAVE ALREADY BEEN TARGETTED AS JEWS WERE IN 30-40 OF EUROPE.NOT ONLY THERE LIVES ARE DISPOSABLE BUSINESSES ARE THREATENING OF TIGHTENING NOOSE OF ECONOMIC THROTTLING AROUND THERE VERY LIFE BLOOD & AIR.



Meanwhile, 5 are charred alive and one is hacked





Joydeep Ray







Ahmedabad, April 3: Away from the shamianas and the red carpets, Gujarat prepared a bloody welcome for the Prime Minister, who arrives here tomorrow. Late last night, five members of a Muslim family were burnt to death at Abasana village, 70 km from here. And this evening, in broad daylight and in the heart of this city,

34-year-old Muhammad Riyaz Qureshi was hacked to

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

death, apparently because he’s married to aHindu.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Today’s attack took place in Shahpur Darwaza, opposite the Shahpur police post. There’s a heavy police deployment in the area but the policemen saw nothing, heard nothing and did nothing.

Riyaz, who’d married Manju a year ago with both families’ consent, was returning home around 4.35 pm when he was intercepted by 15-odd people. ‘‘One of them beat him up with a stick and the others stood, watching. Two others then hit him with large stones and later hacked him to death,’’ Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Zone-II, K C Patel said.

Later, they sprinkled petrol and kerosene on the body and set fire to it.

Officers of the Madhavpura police station — which this area falls - are yet to confirm the reason behind the killing but a senior official said Riyaz was killed because of his marriage. None of them, however, could explain how such an incident could take place in a busy, well-patrolled area.

Perhaps Riyaz should have heeded the warning when his small house in the nearby Ramlal ni Khada area was ransacked and damaged on February 28. He had then managed to flee the mob, but there was no escape this time as his assailants — all apparently locals — seemed to have laid their plans with chilling accuracy.

Police officials ruled out the involvement of any of Manju’s family members. Manju’s uncle, Deepak Waghri of Amthaji Ni Chali where Manju lived before her wedding, said, ‘‘There was no objection from our side to their marriage.

Initially we were not in favour of the relationship but then we came round.’’ If Riyaz had a waarning, the victims of last night’s carnage were caught totally unawares: their village was long considered an oasis of communal harmony, safe enough for the four Muslim families to live in. The attack, locals, say, was carried out by people from other villages.

If there’s any silver lining to the tragedy, it’s the scene at the village on Wednesday morning. Raveenabanu Ghanchi, whose husband Salimbhai was killed, has sought shelter at the house of the village’s Hindu sarpanch and is surrounded by his family.

``Don’t tell her about Salimbhai’s death, she thinks he was injured and is now in hospital in Ahmedabad. She was rescued by us from a temple, close to their burnt house and since then she has been staying with us’’, said sarpanch Madharsinh Solanki. His eyes were full of tears, his family and other villagers wore white as a sign of mourning.

‘‘We never thought of such an incident in our village even though we were getting news of torture on Muslims in some neighbouring villages. They were all so well protected despite the rising communal tension in the state,`` said Solanki.

The attackers, he says, ‘‘had all come from other villages. The attack took place at night; some of us woke up smelling something burning but we couldn’t identify them.’’













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Okay, by now you have probably gotten the point. The letters with the Anthrax came from inside the United States.

The letters contained a specific type of weaponized Anthrax made by a United States military lab which had been claiming for a lot of years that it wasn`t doing that sort of thing any more. ``What? Oh, you mean THAT Anthrax over there! Sheesh, we thought you said `Pamflax` and shuckies but we quit making that stuff a long time ago. Honest. Really. If we`re lying may God strike us... a glancing blow.``

(Ahem)

The pattern of the mailings of the Anthrax letters was also suspicious. Congress got their Anthrax letters just in time for the vote on the disingenuously named USA Patriot Act (aka the anti-terror bill) which the terrorized Senators voted into law without bothering to read. How convenient for the bill`s sponsors that there was a terror attack on the Congress just when Congress was about to vote on the anti-terror bill. Eerie timing, isn`t it?

So now, knowing that the Anthrax letters came from an American source, take another look at the actual letters.

There are several indications of deliberate deception in these items. The first is the quite obvious way the addresses are written at a slight slant, oddly enough matching the look of the posters and flyers at the Post Office warning all America to ``watch out for these``. While the letters to Congress are intended to appear to be from fourth graders, the letters to the New York Post and Tom Brokow have no need for such an artifice. Dates written by Middle Easterners begin with the day first, then the month, then the year. The above letters follow the American convention for the dates shown.

One of the letters is a photocopy of another. Most places which have copiers have typewriters or word processors, appliances whose operation is no mystery to the sort of people who go in and out of government laboratories.

In short, the entire look of the letters is a contrived fake, creating what they thought a letter from a third world middle eastern terrorist would look like, so that the phrases ``Death to Israel``, and ``Allah is Great`` (a real Muslin says either ``Allah Achbar`` or ``God is Great``) would point the finger of blame for the Anthrax at the middle eastern Arabs.

Except that we know for a fact that the Anthrax didn`t come from the Middle East. It isn`t Saddam`s or Osama`s, it`s the very best high quality mil-spec Anthrax home grown at Fort Detrick, Dugway, and USAMRIID.

It`s our Anthrax.

And that means that all the slanted writing, the extra crossings on the ``T``s, the references to Allah and Israel are a carefully crafted hoax, designed to trick Americans into thinking that Arab Muslims from the middle east were to blame for the Anthrax letters.

The above letters are not evidence of a terrorist attack but of a deception against the people of the United States; a deliberate frame-up of middle eastern Arabs perpetrated by the same party who owns the Anthrax.

That a plan exists to frame Arab Muslims for the crimes of another party is now a proven fact.

Reply Godot # 39

Whoever wrote this post was stoned out of his/her mind. But it`s funny!!!”

Godot Saheb, it is nainsafee to saym y pain and humliation is cause by illegal drug,wine orother haram item like pork etc.. Ok? You shlud not laughing at me, Ia malso human like your only – flash and blod, justlake mans!. Why ID o not also desarve s y p a t h y? It is als omeaning something to me, not bjeust youall. Ok? Yous hod do rightby me. INVER EAT PORK!!!!

AnNy also is laugh, buta t leastshe is not accuse meof dirty habits unIslamic behaviours or other gundah cheez. Thak you behain. Iam glud you belief my innocent.

Plz brelief me. And tall me, a mIrightor wong? DoI nothave HUQ to replying when somebowdy toy wath my affaction, and thenwrite nasty things about me on chowk? (I’t’s NOT TRUE!!!! Howcan I convancing? I NEVER DIDT HESE THIGS!!! Iam stull pur!)

My heartis wery heave.Chowk stuff, whyy ou are latting them parscutting me? I am wushing for understood. And nobdy halping. Why?

Lajwanti

Re: Lajwantii, #41

``Writting lettts to 16 yr olds.``

If I were that way, I am not stupid enough to ``write letters`` in a public forum, Lajwantii. Sure, you`re smart enough to know that. Humbert Humbert I am not. And it`s not me that I care about that bothers me.

Ras #43
Just for the sake of understanding history, did the Nawab Ahmad Khan murder case against Bhutto have any merit?

zafar...since you have not shown up here yet i do not know if you`d mind if i use this thread...ofcourse chowk has not provided us a relevant board for this either...t

...a letter a friend forwarded from ramallah...it is self explanatory...

_________________________________________________

UNDER SIEGE IN RAMALLAH... WHAT WE NEED

Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre in Ramallah


Dear All:

I am the director of the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre in Ramallah (Http://www.sakakini.org). As I am under siege at home, i am sending out this email to journalist friends, & others, to ask to please get
our message out & disseminated further.

I hope this message will not become morbid fodder for chain emails to draw pity, or prayers, or donations, but rather actions. We are doing our bit by resisting & or standing steadfast, & ask the world to please do its bit in the name of our common humanity, each according to his her/own capacity. We do not want to become the red indians of the Arab world, but simply want to live free, in peace & dignity on this land.

I will start by a few paragraphs` overview of the situation ``live`` as i see it, & follow it with 9 suggestions of what we would please like to see happen in the media & elsewhere in the outside world.

Firstly tonight -Sunday- we have heard numerous reports of 30 Palestinian policemen executed in cold blood by Israeli soldiers in a building where they sought refuge on Irssal street in Ramallah. This was after 5 Palestinian officers were executed by being shot to the head & then had their corpses thrown on the pavement for hours on Friday. Ambulances are prevented from reaching their destinations & 2
hospitals have either been broken into (Arabcare) or shot at (Nazer Maternity Hospital). If this continues, it will be another Chechnya or Sarajevo in the making.

Personally, I have been shut at home since Friday morning, like all the tens of thousands of inhabitants of Ramallah & El-Bireh, & no prospect of an end soon. We did not have electricity for one day, but thank
God it got reestablished today Sunday.

One of the employees of the Sakakini Center had the Israeli army burst into his village (Kobar) yesterday, destroy belongings & arrest his younger brother, alongside 30 other young men from the village.

The cleaning lady of the Center lives in a house with an outhouse for toilets. For 3 days the Israelis have been posted by the door to her house & preventing all exit. When the eldest today sneaked out to the
outhouse, the Israelis caught him & beat him. His school teacher father tried to intervene, the Israelis beat him & arrested him.

One of the board members of our center was arrested with all the employees of the office building where he was working late Thursday night. They were all blindfolded & had their hands tied & placed in one
room for 16 hours. The Israelis destroyed some office furniture & stole hard drives from computers. They all untied themselves once they realized the Israelis had gone on to bigger prey..

My brother in law & his wife & their 3 under-10 year old kids are without phone & electricity since Friday & cannot go live w/ someone else as they would be shot at.

My next door neighbor`s 70+ year old father lives near Yasser Arafat`s office. The Israelis broke into his home Friday, broke everything w/ the butt of their rifles (TV, sinks, furniture, etc.. ) & then stole
some money.

There are reports also of Israeli soldiers breaking into banks & change offices & jewelery stores & stealing money & jewelry.

In El Bireh, they arrested Saturday 150 young men between 16-45 years of age after calling out for men of this age bracket to get out, they are grouping them in Ramallah`s Old City.

The only local private TV station in town that used to air hourly news & advice (Watan TV) has been seized by the Israelis on Friday, & they are now airing pornographic films. Journalists have been ordered
out of Ramallah today Sunday.

All neighborhoods are abuzz with talk of who is next in Israeli home incursions. As for me & many others, there is the human instinct of crying out for help when in danger.

What we have done: With our means we have made phone calls to appeal for help & pressure on the international community to a number of high level officials in a number of neigboring countries, as well as sent appeals to the media like this one.

Below are 9 modest &/or utopic suggestions & requests:

1- This is a long siege please keep the pressure to have our story told & appeals for action continuous.
2- The Centre`s admin.& finance director, Ms. Manal Issa has collected about 10 testimonies by children around her describing conditions under siege as well as drawings she has scanned. These testimonies in
Arabic can be obtained directly from her at: issamanal@yahoo.com. I will translate them tomorrow to englsih & have them available. I am also asking that anybody who gets this email directly or forwarded, ask us for copies of these testimonies to have them published as widely as possible.
3- Please ask for pressure on the international community & decision makers to lift the siege on us. We need tens & hundreds of letters daily to: president@whitehouse.gov & vice.president@white house.gov
4- If you do not want that, please write mainstream news organizations in the US about the siege.
5- We need daily demonstrations in front of Israeli embassies.
6- We need appeals from Arab artists to western European artists for concerts/demonstrations/appeals to decision makers to lift the siege.
7- We need action by Western/European artists for events to ask for the siege to be lifted on us.
8- If you work for a publication, please keep a section for daily news or weekly news from the siege, interviews with witnesses to repression/the siege, children`s testimonies, & information from hospitals.
9-The disastrous health picture can be obtained by calling the Ramallah Hospital & talking to its director Dr. Atari or to the Deputy minister of health who is stationed there Dr. Munther Sharif (972 2 2298 2220).
10- Please give us your suggestions for action & for what you need from us to better help us.

Thank you to the Muharraq Club, Bahrein TV, & Dubai`s Nadwat al Thaqafa for hearing us already..

Thank you all & we all look forward to hearing from you soon,

Adila Laidi.

Ras

``Bhutto, however, saw this as a treacherous act of one who owed everything to him. He did not mince his words when he saw Zia-ul-Haq in Murree on July 15 and subsequently on a number of occasions spoke of revenge.``

A relative in army once told me that in Murree Bhutto actually went breserk; according to his words ``Bhutto nay tay odhi (Zia`s) maaN behan ik kar ditti``. Zia in return took off his belt and beat the living daylights out of Bhutto.

From Dawn April 4, 2002


The hanging of Bhutto

By Mohammad Asghar Khan


It will be 23 years on April 4,2002, since Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged after a trial of doubtful judicial propriety. It would be well to examine the circumstances that led to this tragic event that is likely to haunt Pakistani politics for a long time.

Bhutto selected General Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq for the post of Chief of the Army Staff when General Tikka Khan had completed his term of duty in this appointment on March 1, 1976. On assuming this post, Zia-ul-Haq superseded a number of officers senior to him in service. He attracted Bhutto`s attention when as a Divisional Commander, he invited him to various functions. He was lavish in his praise of the prime minister and at one of these functions presented him a sword in recognition of his services to the country and its armed forces.

It was as a result of his persuasion that Bhutto agreed to be the Colonel-in-Chief of the Armoured Corps, an honour normally bestowed on senior army officers of general`s rank. I gather that he had even tried to persuade him to don the uniform of the Colonel-in-Chief of the Armoured Corps, which he wanted Bhutto to wear at a military parade.

Zia-ul-Haq was selected to preside at a General Court Martial convened at Attock in 1973 to try a number of officers charged with a conspiracy to overthrow Bhutto`s government. In view of the nature of the trial, the prime minister kept himself informed about its progress and, therefore, with Zia-ul-Haq`s conduct of the proceedings. What he saw of Zia-ul-Haq during this lengthy trial confirmed him in his opinion that he was a trustworthy officer.

After his appointment as Chief of the Army Staff, there was no occasion to doubt his reliability or to suspect any personal ambition on his part. The people`s movement against Bhutto`s government in the spring of 1977 was a test of his loyalty and he had no difficulty in passing the test. During his tour of army formations he told the officers and men that their job was not to question the validity or justification of an order but to obey blindly the commands of the government.

It is said that at one place while addressing an army unit which was on martial law duties and some of whose personnel had fired on an unruly crowd, he had said that they had fired 20 rounds of ammunition but there was only one body. Where, he had asked, were the remaining 19 bodies? At another place, he congratulated a young officer who had ordered firing on a youth. He promoted him on the spot. Later, two months before he staged his coup, he, along with the Chiefs of Staff of the other two services, issued an unusual statement, reaffirming their loyalty to Bhutto. This statement was given wide publicity.

On the evening of July 4, Bhutto held a meeting with his senior advisers at which Zia-ul-Haq was also present. The political situation was discussed and Bhutto told them that he would be resuming the dialogue with the PNA leaders the following day and intended resolving the deadlock. The possibility of an accord being reached between the government and the PNA was not to his liking and Zia-ul-Haq decided to act without delay to obviate that risk.

The plan for a coup which had been ready for some time was immediately put into action. The operation was a simple affair and was localized to the capital. The details had already been worked out by the Corps Commander at Rawalpindi, Lt-Gen Faiz Ali Chishti,and the whole operation was completed before dawn of July 5, 1977.

The public received the news with mixed feelings but by and large Zia-ul-Haq`s action, particularly because of his promise to hold elections within 90 days, was accepted by the majority of the people as having been justified in the circumstances. The public had not acclaimed his assumption of power but because of his promise to hold elections within a stipulated period, had accepted it as a reasonable step in the peculiar conditions that had been created.

Bhutto, however, saw this as a treacherous act of one who owed everything to him. He did not mince his words when he saw Zia-ul-Haq in Murree on July 15 and subsequently on a number of occasions spoke of revenge. The Constitution of 1973 had laid down death penalty for the kind of action that Zia-ul-Haq had taken and Bhutto had reminded him of that. Mindful of his personal safety and that of his close associates, Zia-ul-Haq was put on guard and decided that he would take no risks.

Bhutto`s show of strength at Lahore on August 8 led Zia-ul-Haq to feel that the PPP might well win the October `77 election and he did not relish the idea of handing over the government again to Bhutto. Even though Bhutto had assured him of forgiveness for the action that he had taken on July 5, he could not risk the possibility of such a thing happening and, therefore, decided not to take any chances.

After this, Bhutto and the PPP made a series of mistakes. Bhutto was certain to the end that he could not be hanged and a sentence of imprisonment did not worry him too much, because a person of his standing could not, he felt, be kept locked up for very long. He therefore, decided to adopt a posture of defiance and to make political capital out of the trial. The PPP leadership, not accustomed to a mass struggle, wrongly assessed the public mood and believed that people would rise to save their leader. They too were firmly of the view that no court could dare sentence him to death and even if it did, Zia-ul-Haq could not carry out the sentence.

By virtue of being the chairman of the Islamic summit, Bhutto wielded considerable influence in the Muslim world and had powerful friends amongst the richest Muslim heads of state. The Shah of Iran, the King of Saudi Arabia, Colonel Moammer Qadhafi of Libya and the Sheikh of Abu Dhabi were four of Pakistan`s important bankers and each one of them was on the best of personal terms with Bhutto. How could Zia-ul-Haq disregard their advice? Apart from these four aid-giving countries, Bhutto had good equations with the governments of the Soviet Union, China and all the important western countries. It was a formidable array of sovereigns, presidents and prime ministers and the PPP can be forgiven for making a massive miscalculation.

When the trial started in the Lahore High Court, Bhutto objected to the Chief Justice, Maulvi Mushtaq Hussain, being on the bench which was to try him, on the grounds that Mushtaq Hussain had been superseded twice under his orders and could not, therefore, be expected to be impartial. This objection was over-ruled and from then on Bhutto`s attitude towards the court was one of defiance and often of contempt. The case in the Lahore High Court lasted about seven months. The court held Bhutto guilty and sentenced him to death.

When Bhutto appealed to the Supreme Court against the verdict of the Lahore High Court, a bench of seven judges with the Chief Justice was set up. Justice Yaqub Ali had been replaced by Sheikh Anwar-ul-Haq as Chief Justice on September 23, 1977. This happened immediately following the admittance by the Supreme Court under Chief Justice Yaqub Ali on September 20, of a writ field by Mrs Nusrat Bhutto, challenging Bhutto`s detention under martial law. The Supreme Court had agreed to hear the case and had ordered that Bhutto and a number of other PPP accused be brought to Sihala police rest house near Rawalpindi from Kot Lakhpat prison in Lahore.

After Justice Yaqub Ali`s removal, Bhutto objected to the inclusion of the new Chief Justice, Sheikh Anwar-ul-Haq, as a member of the Bench on the grounds that by accepting the office of acting president during the absence of Zia-ul-Haq from the country, he had compromised his impartial status. Bhutto also stated that the Chief Justice in his public statements had been critical of his government in the recent past.

This objection was overruled and the trial started by a full bench of the Supreme Court comprising all the nine judges at Rawalpindi on May 20, 1978. Throughout the trial, Bhutto`s attitude was more cooperative than it had been at Lahore. He still appeared to believe that political considerations and pressure from foreign governments would save his life. At the same time, he hoped that the Supreme Court`s decision would be in his favour.

The trial ended in January, 1979 and by a majority decision of 4 against 3, the Supreme Court decided to uphold the judgment of the Lahore High Court. The judgment of the Supreme Court was made public on February 6, 1979. Bhutto was given a week to file a review petition, the final decision on which was made known on March 24, 1979 and the decision given earlier was confirmed. It was now up to Zia-ul-Haq to grant a reprieve. During the next few days a large number of mercy appeals were made to Zia-ul-Haq, amongst them many by foreign governments.

Zia-ul-Haq`s answer was made known to the people of Pakistan through the 11 a.m. radio news on April 4,1979, after Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had been buried at his ancestral graveyard at Garhi Khuda Bakhsh in Larkana district. He had been hanged in Rawalpindi district prison early that morning. Thus ended a turbulent career. We are too close to the times in which Bhutto lived, to assess accurately the impact of his life and death on the future of Pakistan. It will be some time before a realistic assessment could be made.

Zia-ul-Haq`s decision to hang Bhutto, however, raises some important issues. On July 15, 1977, when asked by Mufti Mahmood whether he intended to try Bhutto, Zia-ul-Haq had categorically stated that he had no intention of doing so. On September 3, 1977, however, Bhutto was arrested for complicity in Nawab Ahmad Khan`s murder. He was released on September 16, on bail granted by the Lahore High Court and re-arrested on September 17, on Zia-ul-Haq`s orders. In addition to the Nawab Ahmad Khan murder case, 25 other cases were prepared against him, material for which had been collected by the martial law authorities.

It appears that the decision to proceed against Bhutto was taken in the six weeks between July 15 and the end of August. Some of the happenings during this period which led Zia-ul-Haq to change his mind were: the reception that Bhutto received on arrival at Lahore in August; the advice of the junta whose members were not prepared to take the risk of Bhutto winning the election; the pleadings of some PNA leaders that Bhutto should be tried and the elections postponed; the provisions of the 1973 Constitution which laid down death penalty for the abrogation of the Constitution and finally Zia-ul-Haq`s inbred distrust of politicians.

These factors, besides the normal influence of unbridled power, the effects of which increased with every day that passed, led Zia-ul-Haq to decide on Bhutto`s trial and the postponement of the elections. The decision to hang him was the natural consequence of this background. What had happened between September, 1977 and April, 1979 strengthened Zia-ul-Haq`s resolve to remove from the scene the one man, who he knew, would not pardon him for what he had done on the early morning of July 5, 1977.

There is little doubt that Zia-ul-Haq`s decision was motivated by political considerations and was not the action of an impartial head of state. He was on record during the trial as having said that he would hang Bhutto and when one of the nine judges on the bench completed his tenure during the course of the trial, he was not given an extension to complete the hearing of undoubtedly the most important case of Pakistan`s judicial history. When the illness of another judge had reduced the Bench to 7 and a verdict of 4 in favour of upholding the Lahore High Court decision and 3 against was given, Zia-ul-Haq confirmed the sentence.

It could be argued that this action was justified on technical grounds. However, the ultimate penalty in a case when the death sentence had been upheld by so narrow a difference of view between the judges, after the Bench of nine had been reduced to seven, smacked of a biased mind rather than that of an impartial referee. Had the original Bench of nine judges been maintained, the verdict could well have been 5-4 in Bhutto`s favour. Moreover, when there was so much talk of bringing in Islamic laws, care was taken not to amend the Criminal Penal Code to allow the next of kin in a murder case, to forgive the accused on receipt of blood money if he chose to do so - an action which is permitted in Islam.

There is of course the larger issue of the right of a military dictator, who according to his own solemn undertaking, had assumed control for an interim period, pending the transfer of power to the elected representatives of the people, to hang an elected prime minister of the country. It was also odd that a Chief of the Army Staff , himself an Armoured Corps officer, should have hanged the Colonel-in-Chief of the Armoured Corp.

Moreover, it was unprecedented that in spite of the appeals of almost every head of state of a Muslim country, he should have hanged the current chairman of the Islamic Conference. There must obviously have been some overriding compulsion that led him to take this unprecedented step. It could only be his determination to hang on to power and to remove from his path any impediment, that could create difficulties for him or endanger his position in the future.

The writer is a former Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Air Force.