Where is the Baitullah Mehsud audiotape?
The easiest way for the military to put to rest any suspicions that the Musharraf government was involved in the death of Benazir Bhutto is to produce the audiotape of the conversation between Baitullah Mehsud and his associate which Brigiadier Cheema claimed that the ISI had intercepted on Dec 27 2007. The joint investigative team of the FIA formed after the release of the UN Report has approached the ISI directly but apparently been rebuffed and so the Interior Ministry is now approaching the ISI via the Defence Ministry to get this tape.
Why isn’t the military releasing this tape for analysis? If the military is unable to produce the tape then the only conclusion is that the Musharraf government deliberately falsified evidence immediately following the death of Benazir Bhutto.
Editorial: A call for investigation
In developments that hardly merit surprise, the former MI Chief, Major General Nadeem Ijaz has categorically called the allegations that he ordered the hosing down of the Benazir Bhutto crime scene as “baseless”. Presenting himself before a three-member fact-finding committee — comprising of Federal Cabinet Secretary Chaudhry Abdur Rauf, Vice Chief of General Staff Major General Sajjad Ghani and Additional Chief Secretary Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Faiz Toru — Mr Ijaz rejected the accusation by then CPO Saud Aziz that the police official had acted on his directives.
The accused having denied the charge, should the matter rest here? The UN report has set into motion a demand for retribution and justice, therefore a complete criminal investigation needs to be given top-billing to settle once and for all the guilt or innocence of all those connected to Mohtarma’s murder. To specifically concentrate on just the hosing down aspect of the case is not befitting. The crying need is for an all encompassing investigation and consequent criminal proceedings.
Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar has said that if General Ijaz refutes responsibility for tampering with the crime scene, Saud Aziz will be hauled in and charged. This, to some, may seem like the lassoing in of a scapegoat.
The problem with this ‘constructed’ fact-finding committee is that there exists a healthy dose of scepticism whether it has the wherewithal to unearth the facts it has been appointed to dig out in the first place. The mere issuance of a denial should not be enough to let a charged man off the hook before leaving no stone unturned. Police officials claiming that part of the crime scene was hosed down as a crowd management measure are ridiculous and should be discounted immediately.
If Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira is to be believed, a complete and comprehensive criminal investigation will be conducted to bring anyone accused to task, no matter how high up the power ladder the trail leads.
For the first time in our country’s history, the military establishment is being questioned. However, precisely because the credibility of some higher ups in the army is in doubt, accountability should be taken very seriously.
The public demands nothing less.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\04\30\story_30-4-2010_pg3_1
Although it is very important for the army to bring the evidence in front but at the same time; it must be noted that elements who want to sabotage the image of Pak army for conducting a successful operation in N.W.F.P will also cash on it.
Absolutely agree that if Baitullah Mahsud was really the culprit behind BB’s assassination then where is the tape of the conversation proving him to be murderer. It seems that as at that time Baitullah was taking responsibility of each incident in Pakistan so, it was very easy to put the blame over him. “Conspiracies are much more deeper than we think”,
I agree with Yasir Qadeer after successful operation in N.W.F.P will also cash on this one
A cruel joke to the nation?
Ex-MI chief Nadeem Ijaz given clean chit
By Syed Irfan Raza
Tuesday, 04 May, 2010
The committee investigating Benazir Bhutto’s assassination site, said they had not fixed criminal liability on any of the accused senior police officials. –File Photo
ISLAMABAD: A three-member committee formed by the prime minister to investigate the hosing down of the site where former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated has completed its report, providing a clean chit to the former director general of Military Intelligence (MI), Maj-Gen Nadeem Ijaz, knowledgeable sources told Dawn on Monday.
They said the committee had not fixed criminal liability on any of the accused senior police officials, including former city police officer (CPO) of Rawalpindi, Saud Aziz, but mentioned that the crime site was washed on the orders of police officials.
The fact-finding committee, headed by Cabinet Secretary Chaudhry Abdul Rauf, presented its report to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani who had sought it in seven working days.
“Rauf Sahib called on the prime minister at the PM House at night,” a source close to Mr Rauf told Dawn on Monday.
Findings of the report said that on the basis of given statements and evidences, the committee had reached to a conclusion that police washed the crime scene outside Liaquat Bagh in Rawalpindi without any pressure or any order from higher authorities.
It said police ordered the hosing down of the site in order to avoid a law and order situation because workers of Pakistan People’s Party were in an agitated state.
Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in a gun-and-bomb attack on Dec 27, 2007, after a public rally in Liaquat Bagh. The fact-finding committee was formed in the light of the UN Commission report which questioned why the crime site was washed within one-and-a-half hours of the assassination.
The UN commission inquiry had also suggested that the investigation had been severely hampered by intelligence agencies and government officials, which impeded an unfettered search for the truth. It hinted that the crime scene was washed on the instruction of some intelligence officials and the orders were obeyed by top officials of Rawalpindi police.
The committee recorded statements of 40 people, including former MI chief, officials of police, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Rescue 15 emergency service.
The committee saw about 150 evidences, including 39 forensic evidences, and looked into the documentary record of wireless communication of police and mobile record of the accused.
The sources said the former MI chief had already rejected the impression that he had ordered the hosing down of the site. Gen Ijaz told the committee members that he and his men had nothing to do with the washing of the site.
The former CPO presented the details of evidences and other material police had collected in addition to taking extensive photographs of the crime scene. Mr Aziz negated the UN report, saying it was not based on facts because the crime scene was washed after collecting all necessary evidences. He was of the view that in many such incidents, crime scenes were washed even within half an hour after the crime.
He termed the UN report a flawed one, saying a lot credible details he had provided to the commission had not been incorporated in the report.
He apprised the committee that the evidence collected from the site was sufficient and provided lead to the joint investigation team to lay hand on real culprits, but no significant progress had been seen so far.
SP Khurram Shahzad endorsed the statement of Saud Aziz, saying the site was washed after the evidence had been collected.
Security experts are of the view that instead of forming committees on specific issues, the government should order a judicial inquiry so that all aspects of assassination and findings of the UN commission report could be addressed.
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/nadeem-ijaz-given-clean-chit-450
Musharraf, PPP leaders included in BB murder probe
* PPP core committee decides Rehman Malik, Awan, Naheed, others will be questioned
* Findings to be announced in a month
* Malik says ‘some more people’ will be questioned before fact-finding committee files report with PM
Daily Times Monitor
LAHORE: Former president Pervez Musharraf, Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Law Minister Babar Awan and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Naheed Khan will be included in the investigation into the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, a core committee meeting of the PPP decided late on Monday.
A private TV channel reported that during the meeting in Islamabad – presided over by President Asif Ali Zardari – it was decided that Musharraf would also be questioned in the probe. The findings of the investigation would be announced in a month.
The PPP meeting also decided that all leaders who were in cars around Benazir and those in the former prime minister’s vehicle would be included in the investigation – “whether they belong to the PPP or not”, said the channel.
Briefing journalists after the meeting, presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said Interior Minister Rehman Malik briefed the committee on the progress made so far by the three-member fact-finding committee looking into the hosing down of the site of Benazir’s assassination. He said the committee would question “some more people” before filing its report with the prime minister. He said the core committee of the ruling party had reaffirmed its resolve to pursue investigations in the light of the UN report to “expose all elements involved in the conspiracy to assassinate Benazir Bhutto”.
The fact-finding committee was constituted last week by the prime minister following the release of a UN report on the assassination.
Daily Times, 4 May 2010
http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\05\04\story_4-5-2010_pg1_1