It has been 14 long years that the jiyalas and the nation has been mourning the death of the ex-PM Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto (BB).
The tragic incident of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto’s assassination took place on 27 December 2007 and it occured during the caretaker government when General Musharraf was President. It was not the first time when BB had been attacked. In 1993 Abdul Shakoor, Yousaf Ramzi, Capt Abdul Hakim Majid, Munir Ibrahim and Abdul Shakoor planned to assassinate Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto during her election campaign at Nishtar Park, Karachi.
In another attempt on December 12, 2007, one of the terrorists was able to touch the vehicle of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto after a PPP gathering at Pabbi.
Another planned assassination attempt on BB was carried out at Arbab Niaz Stadium, Peshawar after public meeting on December 26, 2007.
The initial investigation was carried out by the then hierarchy and it was very surprising that the crime scenes were washed away immediately after the crimes both in Karsaz Karachi and Liaquat Bagh Rawalpindi, whereas the washing of crimes is never done in such cases especially in murder cases as in the case of former prime minister of the country. Instead of keeping the evidence safe, they were ordered to clear, which raises several questions. All these aspects and various suspicions were taken seriously so that investigations could be carried out to uncover the facts and reach the real culprits.
The case of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto assassination was transferred from Punjab police to FIA under the orders of the then federal government. A high-powered JIT was constituted for further investigation of the case. The team (JIT) of FIA led by Tariq Khosa, included Khalid Qureshi, the then Director CTW/FIA as lead investigator, Bin Amin, the then IGP Islamabad, Azad Khan, Sajjad Haider and Ghulam Asghar Jatoi. The outcome of the investigation by the JIT is fully reflected in the report. This report dispels the false impression engineered by some with their ulterior motives that the PPP leadership during its tenure had been unable to investigate the case to its logical conclusion which stands negated as below. The summary of the investigation will further shed light on the investigation and trial and also how Ch Zulfiqar Ali, the special prosecutor of this case, was assassinated. It remained a mystery as to how only US drone hit in Khyber Agency to kill Obaid-ur-Rehman alias Chattan who was the main handler of Bibi’s murder plan.
Despite all the difficulties, a hidden force was acting odd to stop the investigation, the courageous police and FIA officers managed to arrest many and were able to piece the evidence together and bring the accused to justice. The accused were found guilty, the competent court convicted them and the matter is now pending in the court. The investigation process was very transparent and both the parliament and the Sindh Assembly were kept informed. It has been recently found that one suicide bomber, Ikramullah, who slipped away from the scene and after spending a long time with Baitullah Mehsud, moved to Afghanistan. The incumbent chief of TTP Mufti Noor Wali has confirmed his presence in Qandahar.
Rehman Malik(former Interiro minister) has been quoted as saying:-
"I had written a letter to then Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal on January 30, 2018 demanding that a request be made to Afghan President to deport Ikramullah, a surviving suicide bomber, and Abu Mansoor Asim Mufti Noor Wali, the author of “Inqilab Mehsud" .I had stated interrogating Ikramullah and Abu Mansoor Asim Mufti Noor Wali will further unearth the facts of the conspiracy behind the assassination of Benazir Bhutto,” I had also requested that Interpol be also requested to issue red notices against Ikramullah and Abu Mansoor Asim Mufti Noor Wali enabling Pakistan to request for the deportation of these two TTP leaders.Sadly, no progress was reported despite of the second reminder to expedite Ikramullah deportation. I had also written to the government of Afghanistan for their deportation but no response"
The salient features of the said investigations are as under:
The crime scene was washed away by the then administration within one hour and twenty minutes of the incident, which had a negative effect on the collection of forensic evidence of the incident. The washing away of the crime scene of any such incident was nothing but to hamper the investigation of the case. This act of the then administration was, therefore, clearly against the law. Senior police officers who were found involved in tampering with the police official log register were prosecuted and convicted. The JIT also investigated the washing away of the crime scene and found the involvement of officials. The JIT interviewed and interrogated several people in this regard and the list is in the JIT report.
The UN investigators also found that the then government did not provide adequate security to the former prime minister according to the Blue Book. Investigators found that Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto had been on the hit list since 1993. The responsibility was fixed wherein the then CCPO Rawalpindi was responsible for removing the security escort to another place of duty.The contingency plan in case of an emergency was not followed and the damaged vehicle of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto was diverted to a hospital further away from the incident scene. The ambulance and paramedical staff were not detailed in the security plan.The then CCPO of Rawalpindi did not allow the doctors to carry out post-mortem of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and gave false statements in this connection. The then federal government had invited a team of Scotland Yard police of UK with a very limited scope of investigation. They were only tasked to find out the cause of death. Although the team concluded that Mohtarma was not hit by any bullet which caused her death, but this conclusion was not in absolute terms.
It may be mentioned here the PPP leadership was of the firm view that assassination of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto had international dimensions with a wider conspiracy plan. The PPP government, therefore, requested the UN Secretary General to constitute an inquiry commission to investigate the case to unearth the conspiracy. The inquiry commission submitted its report in May 2010 wherein it primarily held the then federal government responsible for not providing Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed adequate and proper security. It also discredited the findings of the committee appointed by then Punjab government with regard to washing of the crime scene.
On the basis of the findings of the inquiry commission, the federal government decided to transfer the case to FIA for further investigation and constituted a high-powered JIT.
The investigation carried out by the JIT had led to the facts that are on record:-
The conspiracy was hatched at Room No 96 of a madrassa at Akora Khattak by the former student of the said madrassa. Ibad-ur-Rehman, a former student of the madrassa Haqqania, had brought the suicide bomber to the madrassa from then TTP chief Baitullah Mahsud and stayed in Room No 96 overnight.The JIT collected the original admission record with photographs, addresses and parentage from the madrassa of those students who conspired and then executed the conspiracy.Accused Nasrullah, who had brought suicide bombers in Rawalpindi on December 26, 2007, and Ibad-ur-Rehman, the planner and ex-student of the madrassa were later on found to have been killed in separate operations by the LEAs.
The JIT did their best and brought facts to the light as all those involved in the assassination of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto were identified, chased, arrested, prosecuted and convicted under the law. Unfortunately, a two-member Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court comprising Justice Mirza Waqas and Justice Sardar Serfraz granted bail to Abdul Rashid, Aitzaz Shah, Rafaqat Hussain, Husnain Gul and Sher Zaman on their appeal. Since the case is still pending in the court.
I am personally very surprised after writing all the details of the investigations that why Rehman malik who is now explaining the things and blaming many people did not himself investigated the case and brought it to a logical end during his tenure (2008-2013).In 5 long years why did not he provide the court and authorities with all proofs he had been keeping close to his chest. As a nation we are now well acustomed with these types of blame game as still the nation is waiting for a clear decision on plane crash of General Zia ul Haq ,the mysterious killing of General Asif nawaz janjua and The kiling of BB.
As a nation, we are so unfortunate that we lost such a visionary, heroic and charismatic international leader.
