“We are prepared to risk our lives. We are prepared to risk our liberty. But we’re not prepared to surrender this great nation to militants.” Benazir Bhutto – The name that needs no introduction, nor all the vocabularies can be enough to describe it. She might be the sister to several; daughter to numerous, but to me, she is my spiritual mother. The mother, who laid down her life to guard the lives of billions from tyranny, by taking a ‘BULLET’, so that in future, children, like me, don’t have to. Known for her self-immolation and altruism, Benazir Bhutto emerged as the mother of all infants, vanquishing two military coups and all the rivals – within and outside. The iconic mother, who, despite being incarcerated for the crimes she never committed; imprisoned in the wall-less cells where her sensitive skin had split and peeled; highly coerced by the intensified pressure of tyrants – ‘as brutal as Hitler’; struggled against the military wings. Looking into the eyes of death, she never feared because of her belief: “Life and death are in the hands of Allah”.

Alas, I do not have my ‘heroic mother’ with me, physically. Nevertheless, this is not Benazir’s termination but the continuation of her stupendous cause and the essence of many people’s life, including me. Albeit I had never met nor seen her, which will always be the most terrible truth of my life, but I know her from the very first day of her return from the exile in Oct; 2007. Maybe I could not get any chance to know about her during her span of existence, nevertheless, she gave me the sole purpose of life via her teachings. I have heard from many that: there are two mothers – one who delivers and the other who raises. Similarly, I have been blessed with two, the one who brought me into this world; taught me to walk and stand on my own feet, and the other is Bibi Shaheed, whose life has taught me HOW TO LIVE. She brought up the country, where I live, by taking it to those heights where only the stars can be. Her incessant sacrifices made me to conceive what are we here for!

No one in this world can be flawless but mother is the one that we portray as being perfect. Therefore, it is insurmountable to appraise mother’s love and so cannot I. Bibi used to consider the children of Pakistan as her own and so, dedicated her book ‘daughter of the east’ to Bilawal, Bakhtawar, Aseefa and all of us. To angle for our secure future, she returned to Pakistan when she could live in abroad for the better future of her family, but she did not, because a mother herself can bear all the afflictions but can never see her children in anguish, no where – such a tremendous illustration of motherly love can be found. She arrived at her Greenland – Pakistan, as a gleam of hope at the bout when people were trapped between soldiers and suicide bombers. Being an unflinching leader, she fought selflessly against dictatorship, extremism, injustice, poverty and all the predicaments faced by this nation. Once she had said… “Despite threats of death, I will not acquiesce to tyranny, but rather lead the fight against it.” Here is her fortitude and determination – The determination to brighten our future. Being threatened for many times, she had never let anyone intimidate her. Running against the clock, she delivered too much that I wonder what she could have done if she had lived… If prison cells, exiles, tortures could not frighten her then how could the death? This is the acumen that despite being departed physically, Benazir is all around – holding our fingers and nurturing us to take the very first steps; grasping our back so that we do not fall while learning to stand on our own feet; making us feel her existence…

“To the world, she was an icon. To me, she was my mother.” These might be the words of Bilawal, but voice of each child of Pakistan, who

has been in cordial touch with the meritorious woman – Shaheed Benazir. After losing mother, abysmal loneliness becomes one’s fate and so it became ours. Nevertheless, I feel much repose while thinking about the place she would be living in – The ‘JANNAH’, the place of which every Muslim yearns. “My mother died fighting for a Peaceful, Prosperous and Progressive Pakistan. I will never give up on my mother’s Pakistan. I will never give up on the woman who sacrificed herself so Pakistan could be free…” Bilawal would never give up and so never we, because we cannot let her blood waste. We will not give up and will struggle along with Bilawal, Bakhtawar and Aseefa, until we have a BENAZIR PAKISTAN. Following BiBi Shaheed’s footsteps, we will combat against all the upheavals and forfeit everything to bring out the revolutions to change this country, because revolutions always need enormous sacrifices.

Though all days are for and of mothers but MOTHER’S DAY is the one on which, we mostly say what we fail to say the whole year and so I am trying to express all that I feel for my spiritual mother. She has given me a space to discover who I am and her teachings have clung to me all my life… The ribbons of her love are woven around my heart. Therefore, all that I am, or hope to be, I owe to Allah and both my mothers, who have been playing the vital roles in my life. I salute BiBi Shaheed and can never forget her because mothers hold their children’s hands for a short while, but their hearts forever. I promise to put each effort in actualizing the dreams that she had seen for us. OUR PAIN HAS NOT BEEN IN VAIN. . .

Khoon chahiye; khoon denge hum, sar chahiye; sar denge hum, jaan chahiye; jaan denge hum – ye baazi khoon ki baazi hai ye baazi tum he haaro gey, har ghar sey Bhutto nikley ga yum kitnay Bhutto maaro gey!

In the 1990 elections Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif knowing or unknowingly awarded party tickets to people who were associated with drug mafia. As result some drug traffickers entered Pakistan’s national and provincial assemblies. Mr. Sharif not only introduced horse-trading in 1989, he also brought drug mafia to politics.

In 1989, Mothermma Benazir Bhutto’s government had announced a war on drug mafia. At that time, I was working at the Narcotics Control Division in Islamabad and we had arrested big drag lords such as Mirza Iqbal Baig, Anwar Khattak and many others. The PPP government’s campaign against drug mafia caused fear among powerful circles that were connected with narcotics business.

General Aslam Bag, General Hamid Gul and the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) operatives, who had connections with drug mafia since the days of General Zia’s Afghan Jihad, did everything to remove Benazir Bhutto’s government. Drug money was allegedly used to back the 1989 No-Confidence Motion against Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s government.

After the failure of the No-Confidence Motion, drug barons continued their support to Benazir’s opposition. Eventually, on 6 August 1990, generals succeeded in removing the Benazir government on a false charge sheet. The caretaker government of Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi organized general elections on 24 October 1990 in which Nawaz Sharif’s led Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) won a two third majority with the full backing of the military and ISI.

Three weeks after the 1990 elections, I was sitting at the office of a colleague who was a Deputy Inspector General of Police but was heading our intelligence unit. He had a file on his table and he told me that the file contained information about the drug mafia members who had been elected to the Parliament. He was upset that the drug control agency was asked not to take any action against the drug traffickers who were elected to the Parliament in the 1990 elections.

The next morning, my assistant brought a pile of files and as I looked through the papers, I found a file that was marked ‘confidential’. Out of curiosity, I opened the file and started reading it. The file contained explosive information that was gathered by the intelligence branch of the Narcotics Control Division. It listed names of 12 newly elected members of the national and provincial assemblies who were actively involved in narcotics business. Most of them belonged to the IJI and some were close associates of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and even had drug warrants outstanding against them. Two narcotics traffickers from tribal areas were also elected to the National Assembly in 1990. It was for the first time that drug traffickers had reached to the Pakistani Parliament, thanks to Nawaz Sharif and the ISI.

The file also contained names of another 300 people connected to drug business. The file belonged to our intelligence department but had turned on my table by a mistake. I sent back the file to the intelligence department but after learning that the drug mafia had reached in our Parliament and that our department couldn’t do anything about it. I decided to resign.

That evening, I went to the MNA hostel where Benazir Bhutto was staying as the new opposition leader. On that day, her spouse Asif Ali Zardari was also brought from jail to attend the assembly session. Asif had won a national assembly seat in the 1990 elections while he was in jail.

I wanted to meet Benazir but she was busy due to Asif’s arrival. She sent a senior PPP leader to meet me. I told him what I had found, he went back to Benazir and informed her about the nature of information that I wanted to share with her. She directed the PPP leader to take me to Farooq Leghari (who became the President of Pakistan in 1993) and discuss with him the matter carefully.

We went to Mr. Leghari’s home in Islamabad where the PPP leader introduced me to Mr. Leghari and gave him Benazir’s message. I sat with Mr. Leghari and slowly told him that it was bad for democracy and Pakistan that narcotics dealers had reached to the Parliament. Mr. Leghari became excited. He said that he would make the information public about the IJI involvement in narcotics business.

While sitting at Farooq Leghari’s home, I had a bad feeling about the man. I found him rude and arrogant. Mr. Leghari treated his servants badly as if they were not human beings. He was an artificial man and had fake manners.

After an hour’s discussion, it was decided that the next day Mr. Leghari would give a press conference and I would sit next to him and would announce resignation from my job at the Narcotics Control Division in the national interest and to expose criminals.

I returned home and with the help of some friends invited members of the national and international press to the next day’s press conference.

The following day, government agencies were alert and security agents had surrounded the guesthouse in F8 Islamabad where the press conference was to be held. I received several threatening messages including one which said that my ministry would file a criminal case if I provided official secrets to the media and public.

By 3:00PM a number of journalists had arrived at the guesthouse and were asking me about the nature and content of the press conference. I was deflecting their questions by saying please wait for Mr. Leghari. We waited for about an hour but Mr. Leghari never came and I had to cancel the press conference.

I was very offended and nervous. Once the journalists had left, I learnt that Mr. Leghari was at Air Marshal Asghar Khan’s house attending a People’s Democratic Alliance (PDA) meeting. I went to Asghar Khan’s house along with my journalist friend Mohammed Ismail. We met Mr. Leghari and asked him why he didn’t come to the press conference?

“Don’t worry, we will defend you on the floor of the National Assembly but we can’t do more than that”, he said to me in a very cold and indifferent way.
I was very disappointed by his response and cursed Mr. Leghari in front of people present and left the venue.

In the very early hours of the following morning, someone knocked at my home door. It was a senior ISI officer. The ISI colonel who came to my home in the darkness knew me for sometime. He was friendly and asked me to accompany him. A black car with tinted glass windows was waiting for us. The 20-minute journey ended in a fortified office. I was offered a coffee and then a polite demand for the file began. I was told that my name was on the Prime Minister’s table and that I was in the ISI custody while the matter was under investigation.

My ordeal that had started in the winter of 1990 ended in the spring of 1991 when I was allowed to leave Islamabad on the condition—never to come back…! Of course, I violated the ban.

Shiraz Paracha is a journalist and analyst. He can be reached at: shiraz_paracha@hotmail.com

It is an interrelated world. Here are seemingly four unrelated news that you might have caught.

US Army is the World’s largest Employer  

Hafiz Saeed bounty increased to $10 Million

More than 100 Pakistan Army soldiers feared dead in the Avalanche Siachen

President Zardari visits India, and meets the Indian Prime Minister

Lets Unravel these shall we?

One of the effects of the second World War on the United States was the economic boon that came due to increase in weapons sales and technological advancements made during the war. Effectively, all the western Allies fought with American Weaponry, this lead to US economy,that  suffering from the depression of 1930s, regaining and prospering. Since then America has enjoyed status of a super power. US continues to invested in weapon technology, and has some of the largest weapons  companies in the world. Pakistan and India are both large clients.

The news about Pentagon being the largest employer in the world, merely confirms that the US weapons and war industry is so intrinsically linked to US economy.

World is however facing a greater problem, that is the climate change and rising water levels. Pakistan and India are in the thick of it. We see the Maldives in the Indian Ocean are sinking and Himalayas are melting. The Latter  has a direct effect on both India and Pakistan, both agricultural based economies. Already, the deadlock has been as much as about the water, as it is about people of Kashmir, and with melting Himalayas, this is only going to aggravate, unless we start to formulate some sort of understanding and a common plan to tackle the impending crisis.

This brings us to the 100 soldiers that are feared to have died in the Siachen Avalanche. Increased Avalanche activity is directly related to climate change and see also this abstract of a scientific thesis  

Thus it is certainly advantageous that President Zardari and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are meeting in the shadow of that event. There has been continuous confidence building measures in the last year or so, between the two countries, in order to create an atmosphere of amenability. It is hoped that recent tragedy would expedite the measures, so as we can go back and President Asif Zardari and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could finish off what Late Benazir Bhutto Shaheed, and Rajiv Gandhi were on verge of completing on Siachen. 

And that is where Hafiz Saeed comes in. While it is true that US has played a role in normalising of the role between Pakistan and India, and they realise that for India to continue to be US’s customer and for Pakistan to be able to divert its full resources on eastern Borders. They need the ‘hot’ Pakistan and India border to become cool, and the relations to normalise to an extent.

However, as stated earlier, it is in US’s struggling economy’s interest that two of its clients still maintain large armies and large weapons cache. They just don’t want them to use it. It is perhaps not by a coincidence that Hafiz Saeed’s bounty was increased to a $10 million, and it had the desired results. Many in India want justice for 26/11 and this reminded them of the incident again. This of course sours the relations a bit, and keeps that doubt in back of the mind of both countries. The fear of being betrayed is going to keep making both countries to invest in buying weapons, and not on their social services.

Fear and doubt are much more potent force than rationalism and optimism, yet there is hope that it would be latter that would emerge. This is how we always start our negotiations with our permanent neighbors, with hope.

That a figure of this stature could be first imprisoned and then killed by vicious political pygmies, as if Gulliver had been overpowered and strangled by the Lilliputians, could only have happened in a country like ours. However, my purpose today is to ask my readers to consider the question marks regarding Bhutto’s death. How did he actually die? Was he hanged or beaten to death or starved? And (since the case against Bhutto is generally regarded as false), who actually murdered Nawab Mohammed Ahmed Khan? And why?

As for Bhutto’s successor, we know even less about how he died or who was responsible. And what was actually buried in the forecourt of the Faisal Mosque — that too is a mystery, a secret.

This is a land of lies and secrets, the lies we tell ourselves and the secrets we keep from our people. To begin with, even the very narratives of the independence movement were contrived well after the event, with concepts like ‘the ideology of Pakistan’ being promoted by Yahya Khan’s fanatical Information Minister General Sher Ali Khan as late as 1969. In the poisonous era of Ziaul Haq, the wholesale rewriting of the history of this region achieved the seal of completion. As a result, our origins and identities have become confused and lost in a non-historical melange of half-truths and outright lies.

Look at all the blind spots. How did it come about that the very founder of the nation had to suffer for over an hour on a stretcher on the open tarmac of Drigh Road Airbase because no ambulance was there for him? Who were the assassins of Liaquat Ali Khan? Hayat Sherpao? Benazir Bhutto? Akbar Bugti? How did Hassan Nasir die? Or Shaheed Suhrawardy? Or Shahnawaz Bhutto? Or Murtaza Bhutto? Or Saleem Shahzad? One could go on in this refrain forever.

The worst examples are the lies we tell ourselves regarding the wars we have fought. We celebrate the 1965 war as a victory, whereas the valour and fighting ability of our officers and men was squandered in defending Lahore and Sialkot when we had set out to conquer Kashmir. Worse still was the 1971 war when, unable to accept the confederal arrangement for which our then largest province had voted, and unwilling to negotiate with them, we unleashed unspeakable violence upon our former nationals and handed over half the country to the Indian army.

The Zia regime spun every kind of confusing fog around the origins and purpose of the so-called jihad in Afghanistan. The Soviet Union, we were told, had this inexplicable thirst for ‘warm waters’ that was driving them southwards to conquer first Afghanistan and then Pakistan. And the Afghan jihad had arisen in ‘spontaneous’ resistance against this. Looking back at what proved to be one of the most fateful decision points in Pakistan’s history, it is doubtful we will ever know the truth about what is now the world’s longest lasting war since the 14th century.

Still further confusion surrounds the sudden eruption from Pakistan into Afghanistan in 1994 of Mullah Mohammad Omar’s Taliban warriors, whose appearance on the historical stage led to untold consequences for Afghanistan, for Pakistan and for the world in general. Our armed forces remain locked into what is clearly a long drawn-out counter-insurrectionary campaign against the Taliban and their allies in Pakistan. Terrorist bands, drawing sustenance from the same sources of ideological inspiration (and funding), have repeatedly blown up and murdered the citizens of Pakistan. They have also launched spectacular terrorist attacks against other countries, one of which was the Mumbai carnage, which upended the peace process between Pakistan and India, throwing years of effort into the trash can. It brought the citizens of this country to the brink of a war that could have led to nuclear annihilation. And yet we are in the dark regarding the true authors of that attack and their objectives.

More recent still is the Osama mystery. Beyond the issue of violation of our sovereignty by the US armed forces, the reality is that the most wanted man in the world was living here among us for nine years. This presumed fugitive enjoyed the ministrations of three (no less) wives, numerous children and assorted servants, etc. Is it plausible that no one spotted one of the world’s most recognisable faces as he moved his substantial entourage to Peshawar, Karachi, Haripur and Abbottabad?

The purpose of this article is not to speculate about these mysteries, only to point at some of the secrets around us and the lies that surround them. We are not helped by the smokescreens created by many of our political leaders, media personalities and so-called ‘analysts’. It is more than being in a state of denial; it is active collusion in spreading the web of lies that is strangling the people of Pakistan.

It is long past time that our governmental authorities ‘came clean’ before the people. Corruption, mass murder and outright treason have been perpetrated upon Pakistan’s citizens. They deserve to know the truth. It is necessary to point fingers and name names, rather than continually sputter on about ‘conspiracies’.

Having come clean, we must ‘clean up’. I do not believe there is any ambiguity about what has to be done and, clearly, the process of deep disinfection has to be complete. Nevertheless, and this is the point, the people first need to know the truth of where things have gone wrong, and they need to endorse and participate enthusiastically in the processes of rectification.

This has perhaps been the biggest failure of the Zardari-Gilani government. Elected on the crest of a popular wave for the restoration of democracy and constitutional rule, they have failed to communicate with the people at large. President Zardari can be masterful in his tactical handling of political grandees. But neither he nor any other significant member of this government seems disposed to communicate meaningfully with their electorate. This is at the very least an ironic comment on a party formerly led by such communicators as Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and his daughter Benazir.

Source: Daily Times

For a jiffy, I gape around, and deem the earth without the greatest of all the eras, my idol of worship if my religion would consent – Shaheed Mohtarmah Benazir Bhutto. Her flamboyant vision to bring up a Benazir in every house, and brighten up her reality by empowering her and making her recognize her rights is unrivaled in history. Nevertheless, she did set an paradigm of Papa’s “Pinky”, not visited by any of her family members for three days, merely because the birth of a girl child was taken as a ignominy, but set it apart, who knew that this little baby with rosy cheeks would turn out to be the first even woman to become the head of a Muslim state, and carry forward her father’s legacy? No one was sentient that this same girl would grow up to save other women from the brutalities committed under the swathe of mores and honor. Well, no one could comprehend that Pinky was bound to have her name quoted at the zenith of the golden books of the history, and her struggle was destined to become eternal – her blood, perpetual – the red, which is never to fade.

A woman fights for justice – justice for recognition, justice after father’s judicial murder, justice for the blood of young brothers, justice for an ailing mother, justice for an imprisoned husband and justice for her children, who spend 11 and a half years without their father – a woman has to fight in courts, and a woman has to put a fight millions of miles away from the battlefield, to provide justice to her people, who for centuries have been devoid of it. A woman shares – shares the torments of others with her own heart soared of million breakages, she shares a shoulder to cry on with all, carrying a stack of issues to cope with, and a greater lumber of responsibilities. She is sharing, and shares her very blood for saving her motherland. She shares her Itty and Aseefi to persist with her very struggle for the empowerment of women, and the affluence of this soil, we all live on, and ambiance, we all inhale in.

“I would take the pain away”… The allegory of a woman initiates, her vow to take every bit of her beloved one’s twinge, and love for the nation is diffused in her blood – it orbits throughout her existence. A baby girl has adequate endurance to live miles apart from her mother, and then, remain soundless during the entire flight in her mom’s lap – the history of a woman’s sacrifice begins – she spends 11 birthdays without her father, and later, when released from prison, has to bear the sting of viewing his illness; yet, a woman yearns to return to her motherland in moments of adversity, but lets the piece of her heart return to where she belongs… Later, her soul rips apart from her carcass, but she does not give up. A woman fights alone in debacles for the rehabilitation of her people, with the pledge that she would take the pain away…

“Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto is the most inspiring figure in my life. She was larger than life. So I ask in her name for help”. – Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari

And her name provides a soul to the dead, courage is a minute thing!

And the tale of my gallant warrior princess begins…

Before I move on to the main theme of this post, I must clarify its purpose as not being the blind adulation you have received from some quarters at your Oscar win.

I wish I could have been part of the horde of your (Karachi and Lahore based) friends and supporters who tweeted and blogged their admiration, enthusiasm and sheer happiness at your Oscar win.

But being a diehard follower of the Pakistan Peoples Party and a supporter of the martyred former premier of Pakistan, the Muslim World’s first female head of state and most successful politician and international stateswoman, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed, I am sure you understand the grievance I hold against you for your role in the insult meted out to my leader in the guise of ‘freedom of artistic expression’ at the Shanakht (Identity) Festival of 2009. An insult meted out LESS THAN TWO YEARS after her brutal martyrdom in Rawalpindi in 2007. When the PPP workers had physically protested that explicit insult in 2009, I had publicly supported their protest right back then (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cmkp_pk/message/14633) and contrasted your irresponsible oversight for our leader with the fear your kind hold for leaders of a Karachi-based political party or the heads of Pakistan’s fearsome military and intelligence agencies.

I also remember how you suspended your event a day later and raised a hue and cry about how people cannot tolerate a difference of opinion and also how you now FEARED FOR YOUR LIFE?! All because a few PPP workers had rightfully protested a picture demeaning our martyred leader that YOUR organisers REFUSED to remove when first requested to do so! That picture, which I saw for the first time a few days ago in a post on Pakistan Blogzine, was ABSOLUTELY worthy of the response it got! These are the very contradictions of your Oscar award which have been eloquently described by a fellow blogger, Safiya Khan.

But I may be wrong. What do I know about provocative artistic expression?! Maybe this is how arty types in your circle express their feelings about people they detest for some reason. With that motive in mind, I would like to offer this picture below for submission and display at the next Shanakht Festival that is to be held under the auspices of your Citizens Association of Pakistan. It is an expression of my heartfelt emotions at your recent achievement, keeping in mind the aesthetic and provocative artistic sensibilities you apparently value at CAP.

I hope it does not disappoint!

Sincerely,

Ravez Junejo,

Co-editor, Pakistan Blogzine

Twitter: @ravezjunejo

Source: Pakistan Blogzine

On April 30, 1999, Benazir Bhutto Shaheed disclosed to media that there was a definite role of Osama bin Laden, Mian Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan army’s 111 Brigade in toppling her first government in early 1990s. “Bin Laden financed an operation to topple me in cooperation with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the Pakistani intelligence services,” she had stated in an interview with the London-based al-Hayat newspaper. “Ramzi Yussef (implicated in the 1993 New York World Trade Centre bombing) tried to assassinate me on two occasions in 1993 to facilitate Nawaz Sharif’s rise to power. Yussef admitted to Pakistani investigators before his extradition to the United States that it was his duty to assassinate me, only because I was a woman in charge of the government,” she had added.

In another interview with Herald magazine on January 11, 2001. “Osama paid $10 million to overthrow my government during my first term. A serving Corps Commander held several meetings with PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and Bin Laden to chalk out the plan to topple my government. Osama bin Laden was told that a woman in the prime minister’s position in an Islamic country was against Islam (Osama’s Islam) and so he should give them money to overthrow her. Nawaz Sharif told bin Laden he would bring Islam (Osama’s Islam) to Pakistan.”

In year 2006, former head of Jamat Islami Qazi Hussain, endorsed BB’s statements, Qazi Hussain was close aide of Osama bin Laden, he claimed that he himself was eyewitness of these developments. Afterwards, former ISI official, Khalid Khawaja revealed that being a close friend of Osama bin Laden he had arranged meetings of Nawaz Sharif with Osama for toppling BB’s democratic governments.

And, now, Mehrangate revelations have exposed the devils of the state and reaffirmed the fear that political parties should have in them. In his interview to an anchor of private news channel, CEO of now defunct Mehran Bank, Younis Habib has restarted a new debateon devils of the state.

Those politicians and public office bearers who committed such flagitious and heinous crimes against Pakistan have been uncovered. Articles 6, 62 and 63 have been violated. It is beyond any shadow of doubt that sovereignty of the state was compromised by activities of devils of state. This is the biggest blunder of country’s history after fall of Dhaka. No one is above the law, Those who are involved in this scandal should be punished according to the laws of state and all these devils must be disqualified from politics for lifetime, so that our country’s politics is kept clean of these devils of the state.

As Shahbaz Sharif so proudly sings the couplet, “aisay dastoor, subhe bay noor ko meinn nahee manta!”, we as proud supporters of PPP “aisay jhootay aur makkaron ko nahee mantay!”

On 21^st February, 2012, the PPP government did what was truly “shocking” and left a lot of people in “awe”. It did what it does best: approach the People through its representatives. Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Chief of Joint Investigation Team, Khalid Qureshi briefed the members of Provincial Assembly Sindh in a live televised event. To be very honest, it was shocking because this was not publicized and was done quietly. The revelations have left a lot of the naysayers in “shock and awe”. Unlike what our security apparatus does i.e. brief in-camera, the PPP did its job in highlighting the report on a public forum. What better forum than a provincial assembly, which had passed a resolution to make public the findings of the JIT! Another significant  reason for approaching the public through the provincial assembly is the lack of faith in the judicial system which fails to provide justice and releases terrorists for lack of evidence! The Supreme and High Courts have been releasing terrorists like Malik Ishaq and many more but choose to indict elected people because of what a “Sipah Salar” says!

Coming to the briefing, the important things that came out were:

• MBB’s assassination plan was prepared by Al Qaeda leader Abu Obaid Al-Misri and was executed by Baitullah Mehsud through the Haqqani network, and Rs400,000 was provided for it.
• The suicide blast was carried out by Saeed alias Bilal who fired three shots and then blasted himself.
• Before her murder, five attempts had been made on the life of Benazir Bhutto, including one by Ramzi Yusuf in 1993 before the general elections.
• 16 persons were behind the gun attack and bomb blast of Dec 27
• Most significant was the information that the conspiracy was hatched in Jamia uloom Haqqania, Akora Khattak, a seminary known to have been the launching pad of the Taliban and led by Molana Sami-ul-Haq.
• Of those who had been nominated in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto case. Five of them were arrested, six killed, and three were still at large.
• It was also clarified that the crime of former President Pervez Musharraf was that he failed to ensure security to MBB.

Now such a briefing is unprecedented in our history. Usually explosive materials are hidden under the carpet and then the naysayers do their best to lambast you. Same has happened to this briefing. Some of the “journalists” have been scratching their heads that if the PPP is able to sort out the killers of MBB, what else will they speak about, but then some of the Jihadi and Hizb-ut-Tahrir representatives in Pakistan’s media are doing what they do best – ridicule the effort! Yes, we are talking about none other than Ansar Abbasi.

In his “perspective” published in The News (Jang Group) on 22^nd February, 2012, Ansar Abbasi has shamelessly tried to belittle the results of the JIT report calling it as having “nothing new to offer and seems to be a futile exercise, too little, too late, too old, to satisfy the agitating minds of the PPP voters”. Off course, the real supporter of the PPP and lover of MBB is Ansar Abbasi, we are all nothing but opportunists! He has also tried to give the impression that the JIT probe briefing has political motives than anything else. The biggest revelation of the report remains the involvement of Jamia uloom Haqqania, Akora Khattak, which is known to have created the Taliban. Do a little track back and you get to the real conspirators. Off course, Ansar Abbasi will never see that as it is against his and his masters interest. He has also tried to deflect attention to the lack of an autopsy of MBB as a major flaw and blamed President Zardari for the same. Can one ask, what is found out in an Autopsy? An autopsy is used to find the cause of death. MBB was not poisoned or strangled or died in mysterious circumstances. She was assassinated in broad daylight, in front of cameras and hundreds of people. What will an Autopsy reveal…that she was killed by a bullet or a lever or impact of bomb blast?

Advice to Ansar Abbasi and his Jihadi cohorts in the media. Stop this nonsense against the PPP and our beloved MBB. We have been taking this diatribe for more than 4 years now. Don’t do it anymore. There has to be a limit to this nonsense. You hate the PPP, that’s fine. Keep hating, but remember, the PPP is the Pakistan Peoples Party. The Peoples in the PPP vote for it and support it. We are not a Sipah or a Hizb or a Tehreek or a League. That will always endear our party to the people and something which your types can never digest.

Rehman Malik’s briefing on Benazir too little, too late, too old (http://images.thenews.com.pk/22-02-2012/ethenews/t-12658.htm)

Ansar Abbasi – Perspective

The News, February 22, 2012

ISLAMABAD: The PPP government’s probe into the BB’s murder case, as revealed before the Sindh Assembly, has nothing new to offer and seems to be a futile exercise, too little, too late, too old, to satisfy the agitating minds of the PPP voters.
These voters and workers have been in frustration, waiting for uncovering the faces of the real conspirators despite the lapse of over four years under their own party’s regime.
The Sindh assembly show is, therefore, expected to bring more pressure than before on the party leadership to find the real culprit in this high profile murder. The fundamental question: “Who was behind BB’s assassination” has been repeatedly reminded by no less than President Asif Ali Zardari during the last four years of his rule, but remains unanswered.
The interior minister and his team of investigators could not go beyond Baitullah Mahsud, the man who was identified as BB’s alleged killer by General Musharraf’s regime in the very early days of the PPP leader’s assassination on Dec 27, 2007.
The report instead exposed the inaction on part of the PPP governments at centre and in Sindh to probe the crimes committed against their slain leader as both the Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah and Interior Minister Rehman Malik were heard demanding on the floor of the house to initiate an investigation into the Oct 18, 2007 Karsaz suicide attack on Benazir Bhutto upon her return from exile.
Why has such a demand come from key political players of the Sindh and Federal governments after a lapse of four years of their tenure and towards the fag end of their rule? What prevented them from probing Oct 18th failed attempt on Benazir Bhutto life but had killed dozens and injured many?
Those at the helm of affairs demanded what they were supposed to do on day one of their rule four years back. Not only that the interior minister sniffed a great conspiracy behind the Oct 18 Karsaz attack but the chief minister Sindh repeatedly said that there was mischief, BB was provided inadequate security, the PPP’s FIR was not lodged and the repeated requests of the PPP leaders to provide foolproof security to the returning exiled leaders had fallen on deaf ears.
It seems like the BB’s murder case, the Karsaz attack probe has also been left for the future government to investigate and unravel the real conspiracy.
Whether or not it was Interior Minister Abdur Rehman Malik’s political gimmick to say that a red notice would be issued through Interpol for the arrest of former President Pervez Musharraf and that he would be brought back to Pakistan to face the trial of Benazir Bhutto’s murder but now the challenge is to do this impossible act.
It is impossible for the reasons that from the introduction of the PPP suited NRO till President Zardari backed honourable exit of Musharraf from Presidency and then the former dictator’s trouble free running away from the country – everything was done under deals to which there are international guarantors including Washington and London.
Malik said that the former president Pervez Musharraf had denied Benazir Bhutto the promised security. Before BB’s arrival, he explained that Musharraf in the presence of Mark Siegel had told Benazir Bhutto not to come back and threatened her to face consequences. There is even nothing new about these “revelations” but still one wonders why after over four years of Benazir Bhutto’s murder, the PPP has issued the same old “charge sheet” against Musharraf and announced to get him back handcuffed from foreign lands.
Even on this particular point of bringing Musharraf back handcuffed as an accused in the BB’s murder case, the PPP government is lagging behind. No one asked the interior minister on the floor of the house that an anti terrorism court in Pakistan had issued arrest warrants against the Musharraf in June 2011 in BB’s murder case but still why no red warrants had been issued by Malik. Musharraf was already declared a proclaimed offender and his property was confiscated as per the order of the same court.
A member of the interior minister team while briefing the House said that not carrying out BB’s autopsy was a serious flaw in the murder case. The interior minister passed the buck on to the then CPO Rawalpindi, explaining that in a murder case autopsy is a must but despite having been asked by the doctors the Rawalpindi police chief did not allow them to do this procedure. There was, however, no mention of the fact in the House that the postmortem of Benazir Bhutto was not carried out on the desire of Asif Ali Zardari, who himself has publicly admitted the reality.
Not only this the UN Commission on Benazir Bhutto’s murder had also showed in its report statements of three senior officers, who had told the commission that Asif Zardari had declined to allow the police to conduct the autopsy of his slain wife on Dec 27, 2007.
The then Home Secretary Punjab, Khusro Pervez, Capital Police Officer (CPO) Rawalpindi Saud Aziz and the then District Coordination Officer, Irfan Elahi, had told the UN Commission in their respective statements that Asif Ali Zardari had stopped the police from conducting the autopsy of Benazir Bhutto.
At the Chaklala air base on the night of Dec 27, 2007, it was CPO Saud Aziz who told Asif Ali Zardari that the autopsy of Benazir body was to be done but Asif Zardari did not allow him to do so. On this, the then DCO Rawalpindi Irfan Elahi, arranged a call between Asif Zardari and the then Home Secretary, Khusro Pervez, who too refused the autopsy to be performed.
On December 31, Asif Ali Zardari had admitted that he had declined a request for a post-mortem. “It was an insult to my wife, an insult to the sister of the nation, an insult to the mother of the nation,” he is quoted having said and adding that he knew that their forensic reports were useless. “I refuse to give them her last remains,” the New York Times had quoted Asif Zardari as saying.

The popular notion about the Swiss case against President Zardari and Shaheed Benazir Bhutto is that this case was suspended by the Swiss authorities after Attorney General, on behalf of the Pakistan Government had requested for it. This letter by the AG was written after the NRO was signed and all politically motivated  cases against the Political leadership would be suspended.

This notion is put on its head by revelation of a document that purports to be the decision on the Swiss case by the Public Prosecutor.

This decision actually states that the case against President Zardari was not closed purely because of the letter. In fact, the Public Prosecutor seems to have continued to deduce the case proceedings, weighing in all the evidence in front of him.

The decision finally states that because of all the evidence, including the witness testimonies (like the owner of the Jewellery Shop claiming never to have met Ms. Bhutto etc) and the letter from the AG. Court then made a decision based on the provided evidence that the case was to be closed.

Now it is odd that this information hasn’t yet been discussed, not least in the highest court of the land by the most brilliant minds of the country. That this may lead to many questioning the veracity of the said decision. But the report looks to be genuine.

Question is that after writing such an extensive report as to why the case is closed, including destroying all the evidence that was presented, would the same public prosecutor initiate proceedings again?

Would a letter from a reluctant Government change his mind? what fresh evidence has come to light? if none, then its highly unlikely that after all this hoopla, if a letter does reach the Swiss Authorities, they are likely to disregard it stating case is already closed based on unsatisfactory evidence (or they’d be red-faced themselves)

If the Prosecutor has made a cogent reasoning for the decision, for them to about turn, without any evidence would be highly embarrassing. Swiss Legal System prides itself of being free from Political involvement, it if they did turn 180 degrees, it would be admitting political involvement. In addition to this, they have already been told to initiate the case, then told no case to answer, then now if again asked to re-initiate, they are highly going to like such non-serious attitude from a Sovereign State. Finally if there is no new evidence, and prosecutor has himself destroyed all the remaining evidence, what new evidence is there to suggest re-initiation of prosecution?

Doing away with President’s Impunity both National and International to do what? let a district level prosecutor say to our Supreme Court – “no case!” -

This begs the questions,  why is Supreme Court wanting this to happen so badly? Is the court been made aware of this document? or have they been misinformed?

http://www.scribd.com/doc/81592068/Swiss-Court-Order-to-Close-Case-Against-Zardari