Report of the UN commission on Benazir Bhutto’s assassination: General Musharraf and the ISI indicted
Commentary/summary by Abdul Nishapuri
The UN Commission’s report clearly identifies General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI and the Punjab Police (collectively the powerful security establishment of Pakistan) as responsible for the tragic murder of Benazir Bhutto and also for impeding professional and committed investigation to reveal the high level master minds and the low level operatives of this murder.
Here is a quick summary of the report:
1. The responsibility for Ms Bhutto’s security on the day of her assassination rested with the federal Government, the government of Punjab and the Rawalpindi District Police.
2. The federal Government under General Musharraf, although fully aware of and tracking the serious threats to Ms. Bhutto, did little more than pass on those threats to her and to provincial authorities.
3. The Commission recognizes the heroism of individual PPP supporters, many of whom sacrificed themselves to protect her; however, the additional security arrangements of the PPP lacked leadership and were inadequate and poorly executed.
4. The Rawalpindi district police’s actions and omissions in the immediate aftermath of the assassination of Ms Bhutto, including the hosing down of the crime scene and failure to collect and preserve evidence, inflicted irreparable damage to the investigation. The investigation into Ms Bhutto’s assassination, and those who died with her, lacked direction, was ineffective and suffered from a lack of commitment to identify and bring all of the perpetrators to justice.
5. Ms. Bhutto faced threats from a number of sources; these included Al-Qaida, the Taliban, local jihadi groups and potentially from elements in the Pakistani Establishment. Yet the Commission found that the investigation focused on pursuing lower level operatives and placed little to no focus on investigating those further up the hierarchy in the planning, financing and execution of the assassination.
6. The investigation was severely hampered by intelligence agencies and other government officials, which impeded an unfettered search for the truth. More significantly, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) conducted parallel investigations, gathering evidence and detaining suspects. Evidence gathered from such parallel investigations was selectively shared with the police. The Commission believes that the failure of the police to investigate effectively Ms Bhutto’s assassination was deliberate. These officials, in part fearing intelligence agencies’ involvement, were unsure of how vigorously they ought to pursue actions, which they knew, as professionals, they should have taken.
7. It remains the responsibility of the Pakistani authorities to carry out a serious, credible criminal investigation that determines who conceived, ordered and executed this heinous crime of historic proportions, and brings those responsible to justice. Doing so would constitute a ma jor step toward ending impunity for political crimes in this country.
The doubtful role of the ISI
An ISI officer, Rawalpindi Detachment Commander Colonel Jehangir Akhtar, was present at the hospital through much of the evening. At one point, the ISI Deputy Director General, Major General Nusrat Naeem, contacted Professor Mussadiq through Colonel Jehangir’s cell phone. When asked about this by the Commission, Major General Nusrat Naeem initially denied making any calls to the hospital, but then acknowledged that he had indeed called the hospital, when pressed further. He asserted that he had made the call, before reporting to his superiors, to hear, directly from Professor Mussadiq that Ms Bhutto had died.
Sources informed the Commission that CPO Saud Aziz did not act independently in deciding to hose down the crime scene. One source, speaking on the basis of anonymity, stated that CPO Saud Aziz had confided in him that he had received a call from Army Headquarters instructing him to order the hosing down of the crime scene. Another source, also speaking on the basis of anonymity, said that the CPO was ordered to hose down the scene by Major General Nadeem Ijaz Ahmad, then Director General of MI. Others, including three police officials, told the Commission that CPO Saud Aziz did not act independently and that “everyone knows” who ordered the hosing down. However, they were not willing to state on the record what it is that “everyone knows”. This is one of the many occasions during the Commission’s inquiry when individuals, including government officials, expressed fear or hesitation to speak openly.
Ms Bhutto’s own concerns about threats to her by Al-Qaida and other militants resulted in part from her knowledge of their links with people who had worked with or been assets of the ISI. She feared that the authorities could activate these connections, using radical Islamists to harm her, while hiding their own role in any attack. This was the basis for her allegations against Lt. General (ret) Hamid Gul and Brigadier (ret) Ejaz Shah, in her 16 October letter to General Musharraf. Gul was Director General of MI under Zia ul Haq and then Director General of the ISI when Ms Bhutto was Prime Minister in 1988-90. Although he was retired, Ms Bhutto believed he still maintained his former close ties with the militant jihadis. Brigadier Ejaz Shah, Director General of the Intelligence Bureau in 2007 and a former ISI officer, was a member of General Musharraf’s inner circle. When Omar Saeed Sheikh¸ the main accused in the Daniel Pearl murder case, was cornered in 2002, he
requested to surrender to Brigadier Shah. Some believe this was because of Brigadier Shah’s reported intelligence connections with Mr Sheikh; Brigadier Shah vigorously denied this and told the Commission that the surrender was facilitated through family ties in their home community.
Militants of particular concern to Ms Bhutto and others included Qari Saifullah Akhtar, one of the founders of the extremist Harkat ul Jihad Islami (HuJI), whom she accused of involvement in a failed coup attempt against her in 1995, during her second government. Mr Akhtar, who was living in Pakistan when Ms Bhutto returned from exile, was reportedly one of the ISI’s main links to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and is believed to have cultivated ties to Mr bin Laden, who lived in Afghanistan during that period. Ms Bhutto believed that Mr Akhtar was connected to the Karachi attack against her in October 2007. Mr Akhtar’s one-time deputy Ilyas Kashmiri, who had ties with the Pakistani military during the Afghan and Kashmir campaigns, had been a senior aide to Mr bin Laden’s deputy Ayman al Zawahiri.
The Commission is not convinced that the decision to wash the scene was made by CPO Saud Aziz alone. The attack was too significant and the target of the attack too important to Pakistani society to make such a decision solely on his level.
Sources told the Commission that CPO Saud Aziz was constantly talking on his mobile phone while at the hospital. In the Commission’s view, he has not adequately explained who called him during that time. Other sources have provided credible information about the intervention of intelligence agencies in the case. Whoever was responsible for this decision, and for whatever reason, acted in a manner that is contrary to the most basic police standards and hampered the proper investigation of the assassination.
The investigation was severely hampered by intelligence agencies and other government officials, which impeded an unfettered search for the truth.
Despite their explanation to the Commission that they do not have a mandate to conduct criminal investigations, intelligence agencies including the Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) were present during key points in the police investigation, including the gathering of evidence at the crime scene and the forensic examination of Ms Bhutto’s vehicle, playing a role that the police were reluctant to reveal to the Commission.
More significantly, the ISI conducted parallel investigations, gathering
evidence and detaining suspects. Evidence gathered from such parallel investigations was selectively shared with the police. What little direction police investigators had was provided to them by the intelligence agencies. However, the bulk of the information was not shared with police investigators. In fact, investigators on both the Karachi and Rawalpindi cases were unaware of information the ISI possessed about terrorist cells targeting Ms Bhutto and were unaware that the ISI had detained four persons in late October 2007 for the Karachi attack.
More broadly, no aspect of the Commission’s inquiry was untouched by credible assertions of politicized and clandestine action by the intelligence services – the ISI, Military Intelligence, and the Intelligence Bureau. On virtually every issue the Commission addressed, intelligence agencies played a pervasive role, including a central involvement in the political negotiations regarding Ms Bhutto’s return to Pakistan and the conduct of the elections.
The Commission believes that the failures of the police and other officials to react effectively to Ms Bhutto’s assassination were, in most cases, deliberate. In other cases, the failures were driven by uncertainty in the minds of many officials as to the extent of the involvement of intelligence agencies.
These officials, in part fearing involvement by the intelligence agencies, were unsure of how vigorously they ought to pursue actions that they knew, as professionals, they should have taken.
Download PDF report here
Related articles:
Benazir Bhutto murder case takes new turn as officials hunt for retired and serving army men
Who is Shakeel Anjum, the author of ‘Who assassinated Benazir Bhutto’?
U.N. Probe of Bhutto Killing Faults Pakistan Military – Time Magazine
The lack of security on part of PPP is troubling. The Media will exploit this point
The PPP is not a security agency. The UN report identifies the federal government, intelligence agencies and the Punjab Police as responsible for BB’s security. In fact the UN report acknowledges and commends heroic sacrifices of the PPP workers and volunteers.
Thank you, Rabia, for providing this PDF.
کمیشن کے سربراہ چلی کے سفارت کار ہیرالڈو مونوز نے بعد اقوامِ متحدہ میں پریس کانفرنس سے خطاب کرتے ہوئے بتایا کہ مشرف دور کی وفاقی حکومت، پنجاب حکومت، انٹیلیجنس ایجنسیاں بینظیر بھٹو کو مناسب سکیورٹی کرنے میں ناکام رہیں اور اس طرح کے سکیورٹی کے انتظامات نہیں کیے گئے جس طرح کے انتظامات کی ضرورت تھی۔
رپورٹ میں کہا گیا ہے کہ بم دھماکے کے بعد مناسب تحقیقات نہیں کی گئیں۔ رپورٹ میں کہا گیا کہ جائے حادثہ سے صرف تیئس شواہد اکھٹے کیے گئے اور اسے دھو دیا گیا حالانکہ وہاں سے ہزاروں شواہد مل سکتے تھے۔ رپورٹ کے مطابق ایسا کرنا اعلیٰ سطحی احکامات کے بغیر ممکن نہیں ہے۔
بینظیر بھٹو کو راولپنڈی کے لیاقت باغ کے باہر خود کش حملے میں ہلا ک کر دیا گیا تھا
رپورٹ میں یہ بھی کہا گیا کہ ایسے کوئی شواہد نہیں ملے کہ کہا جائے کہ صدر آصف زرداری یا ان کے خاندان کا کوئی فرد اس واقعے میں ملوث ہو سکتا ہے
http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/2010/04/100415_benazir_un_report.shtml
In addition to publishing a third class book on BB’s murder by Shakeel Anjum, the ISI has presented its best defence against the UN report by buying and unleashing a disgruntled PPP worker:
Chaudhry Aslam, the protocol officer accompanying Benazir during the fateful moments – revisiting his agony in the midst of a cluster of MPs and journalists in the cafeteria – thinks otherwise. He believes that Baitullah Mehsud’s theory is rubbish because BB had spoken to Baitullah just days before her murder and the telephonic conversation was arranged by Gen (r) Naseerullah Babar when she was at Arbab Alamgir’s residence in Peshawar. He recalls that Baitullah had conveyed to BB that certain agencies were spreading rumours about the Taliban, whereas he said the Pashtuns would never harm women, especially ZAB’s daughter.
Aslam said it’s a conspiracy hatched by certain agencies, some Sindhi and Punjabi leaders, and some insiders to get rid of not only BB, but also Nawaz Sharif. Nawaz had escaped an attempt in Rawalpindi’s Koral Chowk just minutes before the attack on BB where seven of his party workers died. He said Brigadier Ejaz Shah, then Intelligence Bureau DG, was certainly involved in this and so were Gen Musharraf and Chaudhry Parvaiz Elahi.
As Aslam mentioned the names of two incumbent federal ministers, even those considering it just another conspiracy theory wanted to find out who they were. He said as per the plan, BB had to take the Gawalmandi route to reach Islamabad for another important meeting and her personal and official security vehicles, along with a Mercedes, were supposed to accompany the Pajero she was travelling in with Naheed Khan, Amin Fahim and Safdar Abbassi. But as BB’s car left, we got to know that neither the Mercedes nor the official and personal security vehicles were there because the two incumbent ministers had rushed them out, leaving BB’s vehicle all alone.
He said as BB’s vehicle moved forward, a horde of approximately 35 people came from no where, who were visibly not jiyalas, and surrounded BB’s vehicle, at which her bodyguards roughed them up to clear the way. As the car moved ahead, a gunshot was heard, followed by a laser boom and some sniper shots. “I saw BB’s headscarf and her hair flying in the air and moments later a roadside timed-device exploded. That’s when I lost consciousness because both my legs were severely injured and burnt,” he told the stunned audience.
He said BB was aware that her husband had arranged a meeting in Dubai in which Rehman Malik, Zulfiqar Mirza, Agha Siraj, Asim Gujar, Bilal Sheikh, Faisal Abidi and others had devised a security plan besides all the security already provided.
He left the cafeteria in tears wondering that the UN committee spent almost three hours with him, but would they include all this? “Even if they don’t, I would lodge an FIR mentioning all the conspirators,” he vowed.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=20104\16\story_16-4-2010_pg7_1
The ISI’s media cell has been able to propagate this ‘story’ to an international audience, and the local right wing parties and websites:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/7594792/Benazir-Bhutto-left-to-mercy-of-assassins-by-security-chief.html
The 65-page report is an indictment of the former dictatorship of Gen. Pervez Musharraf; the country’s most powerful spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate; and the police of Punjab province and the military headquarters city of Rawalpindi, where a suicide bomber killed Bhutto on Dec. 27, 2007.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/15/1581796/un-report-pakistan-failed-to-protect.html#ixzz0lDYmcgcu
one interesting aspect is regarding the permission to conduct an autopsy requested by chief physician of rawalpindi general hospital. At the time, the CPO Saud Aziz had claimed (and it was reported in the media) that Benazir’s family had not allowed the autopsy to be conducted.
According to the report, this is untrue since there is no requirement on the police to request permission from the family to conduct an autopsy. So Saud Aziz was lying. This fact was also pointed out by Athar Minallah at the time:
http://thenews.jang.com.pk/print3.asp?id=11974
Well noted, Rabia.
On a related note, perhaps Saud Aziz was only doing his nokri, complying with the instructions of the men in khakis.
agreed… the daily telegraph story’s timing is really suspicious.
and also the timing of Shakeel Anjum’s third class book “Who assassinated Benazir Bhutto’. The ISI operatives (agents, assets) have become active to save their bosses in the GHQ. Many more will soon join them. Many new faces will be exposed shortly. Can’t wait.
بینظیر بھٹو سے پاکستان کے اکثر لوگوں کا ایک ’لو افئیر‘ قسم کا رشتہ تھا۔ یہ عشق انہیں ان کے ذوالفقار علی بھٹو سے عشق کے ترکے میں ملا تھا۔ عجیب و غریب بات تھی ٹوٹے پھوٹے دلوں کے پھٹیچر عوام کی ٹوٹی پھوٹی اردو یا سندھی بولنے والی گوری میم ٹائپ بینظیر بھٹو سے محبت۔
برصغیر کے لوگ اپنے اچھے بادشاہوں اور باغیوں سے مبحت کرتے آئے ہیں۔
کسی نے اسے بہن بینظیر کہا، کسی نے بیٹی اور کسی نے ’مارئي ملیر کی‘۔ بینظیر بھٹو نے اپنے لیے ’دختر مشرق‘ کا نام منتخب کیا۔
’اگر میں وطن کو یاد کرتے یہاں (تیرے محلاتی قید خانے میں) مرجاؤں
تو اے عمر سومرو (بادشاہ) تم میری میت کو میرے لوگوں کے پاس ضرور پہنچانا
تو میری میت کو میرے ددھیال دیس کی بیلوں کی خوشبوں دینا
میں مرکر کر بھی زندہ کہلاٰؤں گي اگر میری لاش ملیر کو روانہ کردی گئي‘
مجھے سندھ کے عظیم صوفی شاعر شاہ عبد الطیف بھٹائي کا صدیوں پہلے مارئي پر یہ شعر تب بہت یاد آيا تھا جس دن میں نے بینظیر بھٹو کی لاش سی ون تھرٹی میں راولپنڈی سے سندھ کی طرف اترتے دیکھی تھی۔ تب ’وہ مارئي ملیر کی‘ میں سے ’شہید رانی‘ (شہید ملکہ ) بن چکی تھی۔
عوام اپنی محبت کے مارے اسے ’مارئي ملیر کی‘ یا ’شہید رانی‘ کچھ بھی کہیں لیکن دو سال اسکے قتل کے گزر جانے کے باجود پراسراریت کی جو مجرمانہ چادر اسکے قتل کے حالات و حقائق پر تنی ہے وہ اور بھی لمبی ہوتی جا رہی ہے۔ میں نہیں جانتا کہ پراسراریت کی یہ چادر کیوں بہت سے لوگوں کےلیے خاکی وردی یا اجرک کا عجیب سنگم ہے۔
میرے دوست ذی شان ساحل نے لکھا تھا
وقت کے گزرنے پر تم جو بھول جاؤ گے
ہم تمہیں بتائيں گے بینظیر کیسی تھی
زندگي کے ماتھے پر وہ لکیر جیسی تھی
ظلم کے نشانے پر ایک تیر جیسی تھی
شہر کے غربیوں میں اک امیر جیسی تھی
بینظیر بھٹو بس بینظیر جیسی تھی
http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/2009/12/091227_hassan_column.shtml
It was done By ISI,Zardari and CIA or JSOC op……..if mushi wanted her 2 be dead then.he should of got nawaz harami killed….he had no gradge against BB.. so leave mush alone………………….
Hi-tech weapon killed Benazir: Report
January 5th, 2008 – Islamabad, Jan 5 (ANI): The Pakistan Peoples Party unveiled the external postmortem report of slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto prepared on December 28, 2007 to the media, according to which the cause of death was a hi-tech weapon.
The postmortem report said, “two to three tiny radio-densities underneath fracture segments were observed on both projections.”
“The cause of death was open head injuries with depressed skull fracture, leading to cardiopulmonary arrest. The X-Ray report says that the depth of injury in the head is 5×3 centimetre. The shape of injuries is irregular alike to egg,” said Dr Babar Awan, Finance Secretary of the PPP.
“According to the X-ray report, as many as 35 millimetre on X-ray measurement depressed fracture from fragment. The segment of injury is invisible electromagnet radiations,” Awan said.
He said Dr Mussidiq Khan, Dr Habib Ahmed Khan, Dr Azam Yousif, Dr Aurangzeb Khan, Dr Saida Yaseen, Dr Qudsia Anjam Qurashi and Dr Nasir Khan prepared first report of external postmortem, which the government was trying to hide.
“Electromagnetic radiation (waves) is invisible such as the waves used in technology of radio, TV or microwaves (radiation). All these devices make use of electromagnetic waves,” Awan added.
“The Pakistan Government was trying to hide this report. This report gives clear-cut cause of death,” he said.
Awan said that investigation must be conducted under the commission of United Nations (UN), and added that the PPP would provide all evidences to the commission of United Nations.
Rejecting probe by Scotland Yard team, Babar Awan said that this team had failed to investigate the murder of former Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan.
“Musharraf should immediately appoint this team for investigation into the killing of Chief of Awami Jamhori Wattan Party Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti.
He said that there was no need for President Pervez Musharraf to deny armys involvement in Bhuttos killing because his party had never raised finger on it.
He accused the government of conspiring to create deliberate chaos and anarchy in order to discourage the visit of foreign observers in the country during elections.
Meanwhile, a team of legal experts set up by the PPP has almost finalised a letter it is planning to send to the UN Secretary-General requesting him to form an inquiry commission to investigate the assassination Bhutto and people behind the tragedy, The Nation reported.
The draft letter is likely to be presented to PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari for approval on Saturday. (ANI)
More at : Hi-tech weapon killed Benazir: Report http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/south-asia/hi-tech-weapon-killed-benazir-report_10011374.html#ixzz0lH5CObta
Lahore: Senior PPP leader Sherry Rehman said the late PPP leader Benazir Bhutto was aware of risks to her life and had suggested a neutral UN investigation in case of her death.
Speaking exclusively to Express, she said Benazir was aware that she was facing an open line of fire when she returned. Ms Rehman added that therefore Ms Bhutto wanted the UN to conduct an investigation if anything happened to her as she was not in favour of any small FIR which could be subverted.
Ms Rehman said the doctors had submitted a report that Ms Bhutto was killed by the bullet wounds and shock wave from the bomb blast.
Islamabad: Former DG ISPR, spokesman former president Pervez Musharraf retired Maj. General Rashid Qureshi on Friday termed the investigation report of United Nation’s commission regarding assassination of Benazir Bhutto as pack of lies.
Spokesman of former president Pervez Musharraf, Rashid Qureshi pointed out that UN’s commission should held responsible the interim-government of that time not the presidency of Pervez Musharraf.
He also disclosed that according to investigation reports as compiled after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, there was no mark of hitting a bullet in her head and at the assassination place approximately 27 evidences were collected.
Former president’s spokesman further pointed out that according to investigation conducted by law enforcement agencies Baithullah Mehsud was reported to be accomplice in assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
The report bears nothing other than opening up a new pandora’s box. The report is almost the same that was issued by interior ministry of Mush Govt. just added flavor by involving ISI in it.
Correct me if i am wrong
Above all why the “bullet” is not mentioned? On one hand the Report blames Musharraf’s Government and on the other hand the Report is mentioning “Lever of the Vehicle hit Benazir’s head” and this was said by the Brigadier Javed Iqbal of Crisis Management Cell under Musharraf Government and later on denied.
“None had received any bullet wounds”????/ UN REPORT???
A senior PPP official, who had earlier publicly asserted that she had seen Ms Bhutto’s gunshot injuries, retracted that statement when interviewed by the Commission. In fact, she had not seen Ms Bhutto’s head wound and had been told to tell the media that she had seen bullet wounds. ???? un report
Clue 1: As per Daily Dawn dated -04-02-2008 report “In the book some extracts of which were carried by The Sunday Times (Exclusive: Benazir Bhutto’s last testament) Ms Bhutto gives a hint about the hands that wrote the plot to kill her. “When I returned, I did not know whether I would live or die. I knew that the same elements of Pakistani society that had colluded to destroy my father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and end democracy in Pakistan in 1977 were now arrayed against me for the same purpose exactly 30 years later. “I was told by both the Musharraf regime and the foreign Muslim government that four suicide bomber squads would attempt to kill me. These included, the reports said, squads sent by the Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud; Hamza Bin Laden, a son of Osama Bin Laden; Red Mosque militants; and a Karachi-based militant group.” Benazir’s ‘last testament’ gives hint about plot to kill her February 04, 2008 Monday Muharram 25, 1429 http://www.dawn.com/2008/02/04/top5.htm
Clue 2: “She disclosed that a media representative had told her on return from Dubai that he had received a phone call from a retired military official that there would be an attack on her that day and that the MQM would be doing that. “I said that if such an attack comes, it will not be from the MQM.” Zia remnants’ blamed for Karachi carnage: Benazir vows to confront militants, fears more attacks By Shamim-ur-RahmanOctober 20, 2007 Saturday Shawwal 7, 1428
http://www.dawn.com/2007/10/20/top1.htm
Clue 3: “QUOTE”
I knew that the same elements of Pakistani society that had colluded to destroy my father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and end democracy in Pakistan in 1977 were now arrayed against me for the same purpose exactly 30 years later. Former prime minister and Pakistan People’s Party chairperson Benazir Bhutto on Friday condemned the suicide attack on her rally and blamed it on what she termed ‘Zia remnants
“UNQUOTE”
REFERENCE: Contractors Tied to Effort to Track and Kill Militants By DEXTER FILKINS and MARK MAZZETTI Published: March 14, 2010 A version of this article appeared in print on March 15, 2010, on page A1 of the New York edition. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/world/asia/15contractors.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/world/asia/15contractors.html?pagewanted=2
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/world/asia/15contractors.html?pagewanted=3
Final Clue: Seymour Hersh, Dick Cheney & Secret Assassination Wing http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2009/05/seymor-hersh-dick-cheney-secret.html
she was killed by her husband so he could use the sob story to make the dumb sheep public of pakistan vote him in. the corrupt son of a bitch should be hanged, along with his wntire family, including his alcohol drinking, white-whore loving son Bilawal. The only good thing Zardari ever did was to rid the world of the stupid cow Benazir
……
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@notasheeplikeyou
Actually, you are not only quite wrong with your foul language, but you are also quite wrong with your statements. The UN report is very clear that Zardari was not responsible, and that such conspiracies are getting in the way of finding the full truth.
You don’t have to like Zardari. I don’t really care. But please don’t just repeat nonsense and filthy language. Have some self respect.
As expected, the ISI has unleashed their most valuable (and carefully camouflaged) asset in the Pakistani media, i.e. Syed Talat Hussain.
Guess who did Talat invite in today’s special programme on the UN Report:
http://www.friendskorner.com/forum/f154/debate-live-talat-16th-april-2010-a-181500/#post2059738
Naheed Khan, Safdar Abbasi, Chaudhry Aslam. The three of the disgruntled PPP workers who are complaining because Zardari did not grant them a lucrative post in the new set up. The anti-democracy establishment (you know who) is ably using them to create disinformation against the PPP and its co-chairman.
Shakeel Anjum, a third-class journalist known for his life long links with the ISI; currently working in The News branch of the Hizbut-Tahrir under the leadership of Ansar Abbasi.
You are badly exposed, Syed Talat Hussain.
You deserve neither credibility nor respect.
Shame on you!
@Abdul Nishapuri
Actually they go much further in the UN report. Page 36 and 37 all but say that Saud Aziz tried to set up Zardari for blame, and page 57 suggests that he did it on instruction from ISI. The question that needs to be answered is who was calling Saud Aziz on the phone while he was at the hospital and giving him instructions?
@Adeel I agree.
بینظر قتل: ایجنسیوں کا رول ’مشکوک‘ تھا
حسن مجتبیٰ
بی بی سی اردو ڈاٹ کام، نیویارک
حملے کے ایک گھنٹے چالیس منٹ میں جائے واردات کو پانی سے دھو دیا گیا
اقوام متحدہ کی طرف سے پاکستان کی سابق وزیر اعظم بینظیر بھٹو کے قتل کے حالات و حقائق جاننے والی تحقیقاتی کمیشن کی رپورٹ میں کہا گیا ہے کہ واردات سے قبل خفیہ ایجنسیاں غفلت کی مرتکب ہوئیں اور واردات کے بعد تحقیات میں رکاوٹیں ڈالتی رہیں۔
رپورٹ کے مطابق پولیس کے ایک افسر نے کمشین کو بتایا کہ جاسوس اداروں آئی ایس آئی ، ایم آئی اور ملٹری انٹلیجنس کے اہلکار موقع پر موجود تھے اور ان کے پاس جائے واردات سے شواہد اکٹھے کرنے کی پولیس سے بہتر اور جدید آلات تھے لیکن اس کے باوجود انہوں نے یہ نہیں کیا اور جائے واردات کو دھو دیا گیا جس سے ہزاروں شواہد غائب کردی گئيں جن میں انسانی اعضا، دو پستول، چلی ہوئی گولیاں اور بینظیر بھٹو کی تباہ شدہ گاڑی بھی شامل تھی۔
رپورٹ کےصفحہ نمبر 30 پر یہ بھی بتایا گیا ہے کہ بینظیر بھٹو کو ہسپتال لے جانے کے بعد آئی ایس آئی کے ایک افسر کرنل جہانگیر اختر وہاں موجود رہے اور ڈاکٹروں سےرابطے کرتے رہے۔ آئی ایس آئی کے اس کرنل نے اپنے موبائل فون پر سینئرڈاکٹر پروفیسر مصدق خان کی آئی ایس آئی کے نائب ڈائریکٹر جنرل سے بات کرائی۔ جب کمیشن نے آئی ایس آئی کے اس نائب ڈی جی میجر جنرل نصرت نعیم سے اس بارے میں پوچھا تو انہوں نے پہلے تو اس سے انکار کر دیا لیکن پھر بعد میں اعتراف کیا کہ انہوں نے اس لیے فون کیا تھا تاکہ وہ اپنے اعلی افسران کو مطلع کرنے سے پہلے ڈاکٹر مصدق سے خود یہ جان سکیں کہ بینظیر بھٹو کا انتقال ہو چکا ہے
یو این کمیشن کی رپورٹ میں کہا گیا ہے کہ بینظیر بھٹو کے قتل کے ایک گھنٹے چالیس منٹ کے بعد جائے واردات پانی سے دھو دی گئي جس کی مثال دنیا میں ہونے والے جرائم میں مشکل سے ملتی ہے۔
کمیشن نے کہا ہے کہ جائے واردات پر موجود آگ بجھانے والے عملے کو حکم رالپنڈی کے ایس پی خرم شہزاد نے دیا تھا جسے سیپی او پنڈی سعود عزیز نے دی تھی۔ کمیشن نے کئی سینئر پاکستانی پولیس افسران کے کمشین کے سامنے بیانات کے حوالے سے بینظیر بھٹو کے قتل کی جائے واردات کو دھو ڈالنے کو مجرمانہ غفلت قرار دیا ہے تاہم کمیشن نے پولیس افسران کی طرف سے بینظیر بھٹو کے قتل میں شعوری کوتاہی کو انٹیلجنس ایجنیسوں کا ڈر قرار دیا ہے۔
رپورٹ کے صفحہ نمبر 33 میں یہ کہا گیا ہے کہ کمیشن کو ایک شخص نے نام نہ ظاہرکرنے کے شرط پر بتایا تھا کہ ان کو ایس ایس پی سعود عزیز نے رازداری میں کہا تھا کہ کہ ملٹری انٹیلیجنس کے سربراہ میجر جنرل ندیم اعجاز نے ان کو ہدایت دی تھی کہ جائے واردات کو پانی سے دھلوا دیں۔ اس کے علاوہ تین پولیس اہلکار سمیت کئی افراد نے بھی کمیشن کو بتایا کہ ’سب کو معلوم ہے کہ یہ حکم کس نے دیا‘ تاہم ان افراد نے اس کی وضاحت کرنے سے گریز کیا اور خاصےڈرے ہوئے تھے۔
رپورٹ کے مطابق ہسپتال میں آئی ایس آئی کے افسر موجود تھے اور رپورٹ کےصفحہ نمبر 30 پر بتایا گیا ہے کہ بینظیر بھٹو کو ہسپتال لے جانے کے بعد آئی ایس آئی کے ایک افسر کرنل جہانگیر اختر وہاں موجود رہے اور ڈاکٹروں سےرابطے کرتے رہے۔ آئی ایس آئی کے اس کرنل نے اپنے موبائل فون پر سینئرڈاکٹر پروفیسر مصدق خان کی آئی ایس آئی کے نائب ڈائریکٹر جنرل سے بات کرائی۔ جب کمیشن نے آئی ایس آئی کے اس نائب ڈی جی میجر جنرل نصرت نعیم سے اس بارے میں پوچھا تو انہوں نے پہلے تو اس سے انکار کر دیا لیکن پھر بعد میں اعتراف کیا کہ انہوں نے اس لیے فون کیا تھا تاکہ وہ اپنے اعلی افسران کو مطلع کرنے سے پہلے ڈاکٹر مصدق سے خود یہ جان سکیں کہ بینظیر بھٹو کا انتقال ہو چکا ہے۔
کمیشن نے سابق فوجی صدر پرویز مشرف کے دور حکومت کی اسٹیبلشمینٹ اور انٹیلیجنس اینجنسیوں کو بینظیر بھٹو کی حفاظت کرنے میں ناکام قرار دیا اور کہا کہ انہوں نے قتل کی تحقیقات کو بھی جان بوجھ کر ناکام بنایا۔
کمیشن نے سابق فوجی صدر پرویز مشرف کے دور حکومت کی اسٹیبلشمینٹ اور انٹیلیجنس اینجنسیوں کو بینظیر بھٹو کی حفاظت کرنے میں ناکام قرار دیا اور کہا کہ انہوں نے قتل کی تحقیقات کو بھی جان بوجھ کر ناکام بنایا۔
کمیشن نے جائے واردات پر سب سے پہلے آئي ایس ائی کی موجودگی ہونے، بینظیر بھٹو کی تباہ شدہ گاڑی کو وہاں سے لے جانے اور بعد میں تھانے پر اسی گاڑی سے انکی جوتی کو ہٹوا دینا اور پھر جوتی کو گاڑی میں رکھوا دینے کو بھی شواہد کے قابل اعتبار ہونے میں مداخلت قرار دیا ہے۔
کمیشن نے بینظیر بھٹو کی تباہ شدہ گاڑی تک پولیس تفتیش کاروں کی راہ میں ائي ایس آئی اور آئی بی سمیت انٹیلیجنس ایجنسیوں کی طرف سے شدید رکاوٹیں ڈالنے کو بھی متنازعہ اور مشکوک قرار دیا ہے۔
کمیشن نے بینظیر بھٹو کی سیکیورٹی پر مامور ذمہ داروں کو بھی بری الذمہ قرار نہیں دیا۔ کمیشن نے واضح طور پر اس پر سخت سوال اٹھائے کہ لیاقت باغ راولپنڈی میں ستائيس دسبمر کو حملے کے بعد بینظیر بھٹو کے لیے موجود بلٹ پروف مرسیڈیز کے بجائے انہیں ایک خراب گاڑی میں ہسپتال روانہ کیا گیا۔
تاہم کیمیشن نے پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی کے کارکنوں کے ’ہیروازم‘ یعنی بہادری کو سراہا ہے جنہوں نے بینظیر بھٹو کی حفاظت کرتے ہوئے اپنی جان دے دی۔
کمیشن نے کئی سینئر پاکستانی پولیس افسران کے کمشین کے سامنے بیانات کے جوالے سے بینظیر بھٹو کے قتل کی جائے واردات کو دھو ڈالنے کو مجرمانہ غفلت قرار دیا ہے تاہم کمیشن نے پولیس افسران کی طرف سے بینظیر بھٹو کے قتل میں شعوری کوتاہی کو انٹیلجنس ایجنیسوں کا ڈر قرار دیا ہے۔
کمیشن نے بینظیر بھٹو کا پوسٹ مارٹم نہ کروانے پر بھی سوالات اٹھائے ہیں اور کہا ہے کہ بینظیر بھٹو کے قتل کے سات گھنٹوں بعد تک یعنی چکلالہ ائیر پورٹ پر انکی میت آصف علی زرداری کے ہاتھوں وصول کرنے کے وقت تک راولپنڈی جنرل ہسپتال میں ان کا پوسٹ مارٹم نہیں کروایا گیا۔
کمیشن نے پاکستانی سیاست میں جاسوسی یا انٹیلیجنس ایجنسیوں کے کردار کا ہر پہلو سے جائزہ لیا ہے اور کہا ہے کہ آئی ایس آئی اور ملٹری انٹیلجنس ایجنیسوں کا بینظیر بھٹو کی وطن واپسی سے لے کر انتخابات کروانے تک پاکستان کی سیاست میں مرکزی کردار رہا ہے اور یہ ایجنسیاں انتخابات کروانے سے لے کر بینظیر بھٹو کی مشرف حکومت سے مذاکرات تک شامل رہی تھیں۔
کمیشن نے کہا ہے کہ بنظیر بھٹو پر خودکش حملے کا ساڑھے پندرہ سالہ ملزم صرف اکیلا نہیں ہوسکتا۔
کمیشن کے سربراہ نے ایک سوال کے جواب میں کہا کہ کمیشن نے سعودی عرب کی انٹیلجنس کے سربراہ س سے انٹرویو کرنے کی درخواست کی تھی جو انہوں نے مسترد کردی جبکہ امریکہ کی سابق وزیر خارجہ کونڈالیزا رائس نے بھی اپنی مصرفیات کی وجہ سے انٹرویو دینے سے معذرت کردی تاہم انہوں نے کہا کہ انہوں نے دبئي کے وزیر خارجہ سے بات چیت کی تھی ۔
کمیشن کی رپورٹ میں کہا گیا ہے پاکستان کے عوام وسیع طور پر بینظییر بھٹو کےقتل کو ایک زمین جھنجھوڑ دینے والا المناک واقعہ سجمتھے ہیں اور ابھی صدمے سے نہیں نکل سکے۔
کمیشن نے بینظیر بھٹو کے قتل کے چند دنوں بعد مشرف حکومت کے مشیر داخلہ برگيڈئر چیمہ کی طرف سے پریس کانفرنس کرکے انکی موت گاڑی کے سر میں ہینڈل لگنے سے اور اسکے پیچھے بیت اللہ محسود کے ہاتھ ہونے کو بتانے کو بینظیر بھٹو کے قتل کی تحقیقات کو خراب کرنے اور روکنے کی کوشش قراردیا۔
کمیشن کے سربراہ نے کہا کہ کسی شحص یا ادارے کو مجرم ٹھہرانا کمیشن کے دائرہ اختیار میں نہیں تھا لیکن یہ کام پاکستانی حکومت کا ہے کہ وہ بینظیر بھٹو کے قتل کے ذمہ واران اور منصوبہ سازوں کو کیفر کردار تک پہنچائے۔
http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/2010/04/100416_un_report_bb_isi.shtml
after going through the whole report i feel very sad , the reason is that according to the un report our government has facilitated most of the people involved in making the sad incident possible e.g formr secretary interior kamal shah ,he was given extension buy our government more than once ,saud aziz who name has been given in the report several times and the head of the mission also took his name in his prees confrence .and said that the place of assasination was washed on his orders and the security was taken away buy him . these are the two main things, there are alot other things against him and nothing in his favour but still our so called leaders promoted him and two more police officers involved ,their names have also been given in the report .saud aziz who is right now the DPO multan(the home town of the PM).these so called leades are forcing the workers to come out and take the matters into their own hands . the UN has also said that during their mission in pakistan all the intelligence agencies tried to stop the UN from alot of important things which had caused the delay in their report .they are not satisfied with the investigation carried out buy the agnecies .they further said that the agencies also tried to and did destroy the evidence from the scene .point number 96 has clearly pointed out that mr rehman malik had disappered from the scene well before the incident had taken place .they found statements of rehman malik on the tv and they found that every statement was different from the previous one . he was not allowed to take the backup bullet proof car far from the vehicle of BB SHAHEED.he was not even allowed to sit in it ,that was BBs second car . mr rehman malik took the police squad with him and left BB with on one police squad and very little security from the party most of whom did not survive the blast .now the president house has expressed their satisfaction over the report .which means that they will take action against the people who have been named in the report .which also include pervaiz musharaf .now the Q is that how much time will they take to take action against these people .nabel gabol has already said that and FIR will be launched against GEN MUSHARAF and the police officers will be suspended . and all those named in the report will be questined .lets see what happens
Pakistan sets new probe into Bhutto killing after scathing U.N. report
BY SAEED SHAH
MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS
LAHORE, Pakistan — Pakistan’s government said Friday that it would revive its criminal investigation into the murder of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto after a U.N. report blamed the former military-led government of Pervez Musharraf for failing to provide adequate security for her.
If it investigates vigorously, the fragile civilian government of Pakistani President Asif Zardari almost certainly would clash with the country’s powerful military and with the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate, or ISI, and that could hinder Pakistani cooperation with the U.S. against al-Qaida and the Taliban.
The U.N. inquiry, released Thursday, called for an investigation into the possible role of the military and its intelligence apparatus in Bhutto’s December 2007 assassination. It also disclosed that Pakistan’s spy agencies had “severely hampered” the initial probe.
Zardari, Bhutto’s widower who took over her Pakistan People’s Party after her death and led it to victory in a February 2008 election, has been criticized for supporting the U.N. inquiry. Now his government plans to use the leads and recommendations of the U.N. report to revive a domestic criminal investigation.
“The government of the day was responsible first for the criminal neglect in providing security to Benazir Bhutto, and second by hushing up available evidence to cover up the crime,” said presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar. “Persons named in the report for negligence or complicity in the conspiracy will be investigated, and cases also brought against them.”
Aides to former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, who led the country from 1999 to 2008, angrily rejected the U.N. findings. Musharraf was a close ally of former President George W. Bush, who sent billions of dollars of U.S. aid to Pakistan that helped support the Pakistani dictator.
Musharraf’s official probe blamed jihadists led by then-Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud for her murder, an assessment the Bush administration also shared.
Bhutto’s party was convinced that the Pakistani police were in no position to examine the role of the military’s spy agencies, led by the ISI, which has longstanding links with jihadist groups, including the Taliban.
Bhutto was killed as she left a political rally in Rawalpindi after a man in the crowd first shot at her and then blew himself up next to her vehicle.
The director general of military intelligence at the time ordered the scene of Bhutto’s assassination to be hosed down immediately, a cleanup that destroyed invaluable evidence, according to an unnamed source quoted in the U.N. report.
The U.N. report didn’t name Bhutto’s killers, but went much further than anyone had expected in criticizing the Musharraf regime and the military.
“One hopes that this report will contribute to halting the impunity with which Pakistan’s intelligence agencies and non-state actors perpetrate abuses, including political assassination,” said Ali Dayan Hasan, a South Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch, the U.S.-based advocacy group. “If a domestic inquiry had reached the same conclusions, with the PPP in power, it would have been dismissed as politicized.”
However, said Hasan: “The reality of power in Pakistan precludes the perpetrators of this assassination being brought to book. This (report) is the closest we’ll get.”
Pakistan has been ruled by the military for about half its existence. The army chief remains the most powerful person in the country, with near complete control over security policy. The current army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, was elevated to that position a month before Bhutto’s assassination. Before that, he was ISI chief.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/16/1583424/pakistan-sets-new-probe-into-bhutto.html#ixzz0lIvRo4n3
sarah on asma chaudhry show she had Hamid Gul on as a guest – instead of asking him about BB’s accusation against him that he was one of the people who was trying to kill her she instead spent the entire show interrogating Faisal Raza Abidi…
The U.N. commission was also highly critical of the “pervasive role” played by Pakistan’s leading spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), then headed by Lieut. Gen. Nadeem Taj, a key Musharraf ally and relative. While the ISI had no mandate to conduct criminal investigations, the report says its agents maintained a constant presence around the police probe. The lack of a mandate also didn’t stop it from pursuing its own private investigation, the results of which were only sparingly and selectively shared with the police. There were also “credible assertions of politicized and clandestine action by the intelligence services” in respect of the inquiry into Bhutto’s death, the report states.
Despite the questions raised by the U.N. probe, investigating possible military involvement in Bhutto’s assassination will prove extremely difficult. Musharraf now languishes in self-imposed exile in London, beyond the reach of Pakistani authorities. And the army he left behind, whose political clout is undiminished, is unlikely to accept a potentially humiliating probe into one of its longest-serving commanders in chief. “No credible criminal investigation can proceed in Pakistan,” says Farzana Shaikh, a senior Pakistan analyst at London’s Royal Institute of International Affairs. “because that would mean going to the heart of the military and its intelligence arm. This is a weak civilian government. The military still calls the shots. That’s the reality of Pakistan. Like many other murders, we are not going to get any answers any time soon.”
Time Magazine Report
http://criticalppp.com/archives/9633
@Sarah Khan nahed khan and safdar abbasi were called because they were with BB sahiba at that time in the car and makhddom was also present .BB in her inetrview said that she feels incomplete when naheed is not with her .this is the importance of naheed khan near BB SHAHEED .she was with BB in both the governments of BB as PM but she and safdar abbasi did not take any post ,but yes makhddom sahab has been a minister before . if they wanted to take any lucarative post they could have taken it at the time when BB was the PM ,they were so powerfull at that time that most of the ministers were appointed on the advice of naheed khan and makhdoom amin faheem sahab .this was stated in BBs book . i would suggest you to to read the whole report and then ask the gvernment to take action against all the people who are involved in it .at first i also did not agree with the protocal officers that the sitting ministers are involved in it but the report clearly states in point number 96 that they where involved .and our president has already expressed its satisfaction over the report so now they should act on it and catch them .including the officials of the ISI ,MI,IB FIA, police officers ,buerecrats sitting miniters and all thoses named in it .i have read the whole report please keep that in mind
@Sarah Khan
Dig up Ms. Naheed Khan and Mr Safdar Abbasi’s interview to Mubashir Lucman in pointblank express news and you will be amazed:)))) Interview was relayed last year.
@Aamir Mughal amir sahab what was so amazing in that interview .
Turn and Twist.
تفتیش کی کنجی پولیس افسر ہے
http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/2010/04/100416_un_report_aziz_as.shtml
آخری وقت اشاعت: ہفتہ 17 اپريل 2010 , 22:22 GMT 03:22 PST
علی سلمان
بی بی سی اردو ڈاٹ کام، لاہور
بے نظیر بھٹو قتل کیس کی اقوام متحدہ کی رپورٹ نے ان بے شمار پاکستانیوں کو تو شاید مایوس کیا ہے جو یہ توقع لگائے بیٹھے تھے کہ بین الاقوامی ادارہ کسی بڑی سازش کو بے نقاب کرے گا البتہ بعض حلقوں کا کہنا ہے کہ رپورٹ میں اس پولیس افسر کی نشاندہی کردی گئی ہے جسے شامل تفتیش کر کے قاتلوں تک پہنچا جا سکتا ہے۔
بے نظیر بھٹو لیاقت باغ کے جلسہ سے خطاب کے دوران
یہ پولیس افسر اس وقت کے راولپنڈی کے ڈسٹرکٹ پولیس افسر سعود عزیز خان ہیں۔
پاکستان کے سابق سفارتکار اقبال احمد خان کہتے ہیں کہ معاملے کی تہہ تک پہنچنے کے لیے سعودعزیز خان اہم ترین ہیں۔
اقوام متحدہ کے کمیشن نے کہیں اپنے ذرائع کا ذکر کر کے اور کہیں پولیس افسروں کے بیانات کو بنیاد بنا کر سعود عزیز خان کی نشاندہی کی ہے اور رپورٹ میں واضح طور پر کہا گیا ہے کہ فوج کےجنرل ہیڈ کوارٹر سے آنے والے ٹیلی فون اور ڈائریکٹر جنرل ملٹری انٹیلیجنس ندیم اعجاز کے احکامات پر بے نظیر کی ہلاکت کے صرف پونے دو گھنٹے کے بعد جائے وقوعہ کو دھلوا کر اہم ثبوت ختم کیے گئے۔
کلِک بینظیر بھٹو قتل: یو این تحقیقات میں کب کیا ہوا
کلِک بینظیر بھٹو کی ہلاکت پر بی بی سی اردو ڈاٹ کام کا خصوصی ضمیمہ
تجزیہ نگار اقبال احمد خان کا کہنا ہے کہ نہ صرف ڈی آئی جی سعود عزیز خان کو پکڑنا چاہیے بلکہ ان تمام ملٹری اور سول افسروں سے تفتیش کی جانی چاہیے جن کے بارے میں اقوام متحدہ نے شک و شبہ کا اظہار کیا ہے۔
کمیشن کے مطابق آئی ایس آئی کا ایک کرنل پوسٹ مارٹم کے وقت ہسپتال میں موجود رہا اور سعود عزیز خان ہی وہ پولیس افسر ہیں جنہوں نے بےنظیر بھٹو کا پوسٹ مارٹم نہ ہونے دیا۔رپورٹ میں کہا گیا کہ سعود عزیز خان سے تین بار ڈاکٹر نے پوسٹ مارٹم کرنے کی اجازت طلب کی لیکن انہوں نے منع کردیا اور یہ پوچھتے رہے کہ کیا ایف آئی آر درج ہوگئی ہے۔ کمیشن کے مطابق اس سوال کا تو انہیں خود جواب دینا چاہیے تھا جو وہ ڈاکٹر سے کر رہے تھے۔
رپورٹ میں یہ نشاندہی بھی کی گئی کہ اسی پولیس افسر نے پوسٹ مارٹم نہ کیے جانے کی ذمہ داری آصف زرداری پر عائد کرنے کی کوشش کی حالانکہ وہ جانتے تھے کہ قانونی طور پر یہ لازمی نہیں ہے۔
انہوں نے کہا کہ جب سات گھنٹے کے بعد بے نظیر کی میت ان کے ورثا کےحوالے کی گئی تو ایک منصوبے کے تحت ایسے حالات ظاہر کیے گئے کہ ان کے ورثا پوسٹ مارٹم میں دلچسپی نہ دکھائیں۔
نہ صرف ڈی آئی جی سعود عزیز خان کو پکڑنا چاہیے بلکہ ان تمام ملٹری اور سول افسروں سے تفتیش کی جانی چاہیے جن کے بارے میں اقوام متحدہ نے شک و شبہ کا اظہار کیا ہے۔
سابق سفارتکار اقبال احمد خان
واضح رہے کہ سعود عزیز خان بعد میں ملتان تعینات ہوئے اور میڈیا میں یہ کہا گیا کہ انہیں خاص طور پر وزیر اعظم یوسف رضا گیلانی کے کہنے پر ان کے آبائی حلقے میں تعینات کیا گیا ہے۔
کمیشن کا کہنا ہے کہ پولیس آفیسر سعود عزیز آخر وقت تک تحقیقاتی کمیشن کو گمراہ کرنے اور ان لوگوں کو بے نقاب کرنے میں رکاوٹ بنے رہے جو اہم ترین ثبوت ضائع کرنے کے اصل ذمہ دار ہیں۔
سنئیر دفاعی تجزیہ نگار ریٹائرڈ بریگیڈئر فاروق حمید خان کہتے ہیں کہ کمیشن کو اس بات کی وضاحت کرنی چاہیے تھے کہ انہیں خاص طور پر کن لوگوں تک رسائی سے روکا گیا؟
اس رپورٹ میں راولپنڈی کے سپرنٹنڈنٹ پولیس خرم کا بھی ذکر ہے جنہوں نے اپنے سینیئر سعود عزیز کے کہنے پر فائر بریگیڈ کو جائے وقوعہ دھونے کا براہ راست حکم دیا تھا۔رپورٹ میں کہا گیا کہ ایس پی خرم نے یہ کہہ کر گمراہ کرنے کی کوشش کی کہ پیپلز پارٹی کے لوگ ہلاک شدگان کے خون کو بے نظیر کا خون سمجھ کر اپنے جسم پر مل رہے تھے اور بلوے کا خطرہ تھا اس لیے جائے وقوعہ کو دھویا گیا۔
کمیشن نے اپنے تبصرے میں لکھا ہے کہ بعد کی تحقیق میں یہ ثابت ہوا کہ صرف ایک شخص نے ایسا کیا تھا اورفوری طور پر ایسے بلوے کا بظاہر کوئی خطرہ نہیں تھا جسے پولیس کنٹرول نہ کر پاتی۔
کمیشن نے اپنے رپورٹ میں ان عناصر کا ذکر کیا ہے جن سے بےنظیر بھٹو کوسنگین خطرات لاحق تھے۔ رپورٹ میں القاعدہ، طالبان، مقامی جہادی گروپ اور پاکستانی اسٹیبلشمنٹ کے عناصر کی طرف اشارہ کیا گیا۔
اقوام متحدہ کے کمیشن نے اپنی رپورٹ میں اس پاکستانی اسٹیبلشمنٹ کا ذکر بھی کیا ہے جس کا پاکستان کی نجی محفلوں میں بہت ذکر ہوتا ہے اور اکثر بہت سے حکومتی اور غیر حکومتی اقدامات کو غیر مرئی اسٹیبلشمنٹ کے نام پر ڈال دیا جاتا ہے۔
اب آصف زرداری پر یہ دباؤ بڑھ جائے گا کہ وہ ان قاتلوں کا نام بتائیں جن کے بارے میں انہوں نے اپنی ایک تقریر میں یہ دعوی کیا تھا کہ انہیں ان کا علم ہے۔
ریٹائرڈ بریگیڈیئر فاروق حمید
رپورٹ میں کہا گیا ہے کہ سینیئر پولیس افسروں تک نے یہ کہا کہ سعود عزیز اپنے طور پر کچھ نہیں کر رہے تھے لیکن یہ سب کچھ کون کروا رہا تھا رپورٹ کے مطابق کوئی اس کی وضاحت کرنے کے لیے آن دی ریکارڈ سامنے آنے کو تیار نہیں تھا۔ کمیشن کا کہنا ہے کہ پولیس اور دیگر سرکاری افسروں سمیت سب یہ ضرور کہتے رہے کہ ان کے بارے میں سب جانتے ہیں۔
اقبال احمد خان کہتے ہیں کہ اس رپورٹ نے ان باتوں کو قانونی حیثیت میں پیش کر دیا ہے جو پہلے عام پاکستانیوں میں افواہوں کی شکل میں زیر بحث تھیں۔
مبصرین کا کہنا کہ اگرچہ اقوام متحدہ نے اپنے رپورٹ میں بے نظیر کے قاتلوں اور منصوبہ سازوں کی براہ راست نشاندہی نہیں کی ہے لیکن ایسے واضح اشارے موجود ہیں جو اس معاملے میں فوج کے کردار کو مشکوک کرتے ہیں۔
مبصرین کا کہنا ہےکہ حکومت اگر بےنظیر کے قاتلوں تک پہنچنے میں مخلص ہے تو اقوام متحدہ کی رپورٹ اس کے لیے ایک بہترین بنیاد ثابت ہوسکتی ہے۔
ریٹائرڈ بریگیڈیر فاروق حمید کہتے ہیں کہ اب آصف زرداری پر یہ دباؤ بڑھ جائے گا کہ وہ ان قاتلوں کا نام بتائیں جن کے بارے میں انہوں نے اپنی ایک تقریر میں یہ دعوی کیا تھا کہ انہیں ان کا علم ہے۔
تجزیہ نگاروں کا کہنا ہے کہ نہ صرف اس پولیس افسر کو شامل تفتیش کرنا ضروری ہے جس پر حقائق کو چھپانے کا الزام عائد کیا گیا ہے بلکہ رپورٹ میں اس کی واضح نشاندہی کہ بعد اس پولیس افسر کی زندگی کے حفاظت بھی ضروری ہوگئی ہے۔
واضح رہے کہ بے نظیر بھٹو کی سکیورٹی میں شامل ایک اہم شخص شہنشاہ پہلے ہی پراسرار حالات میں ہلاک کیا جا چکا ہے۔
دوست کو بھیجیں پرِنٹ کریں
Ex-MI chief Nadeem Ijaz ordered CPO to wash Benazir murder scene Saturday, April 17, 2010 By Tariq Butt http://thenews.jang.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=28353
ISLAMABAD: The report of the UN fact-finding commission says the then Rawalpindi City Police Officer (CPO), Saud Aziz, had ordered to hose down the scene of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination at the Liaquat Bagh on the order of the chief of the Military Intelligence of the time, Major General Nadeem Ijaz, who was not only a relative of Pervez Musharraf but also a known crony of the former dictator.
The report lays a lot of blame on Saud Aziz on different counts, especially washing of the crime scene and lack of autopsy. He was posted as the CPO Multan immediately after the present government came to power.
The commission attached a great significance to the washing of the crime scene to eliminate the evidence that could have proved tremendously useful in investigations into the assassination.
At one place, the report said, the then Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General Lieutenant General Nadeem Taj met Benazir Bhutto in the early morning hours of December 27 at the Zardari House Islamabad. It said that directly knowledgeable sources told the commission that they spoke both about the elections as well as threats to her life; versions differ as to how much detail was conveyed about the threats. The commission is satisfied that at the least the ISI chief told Benazir Bhutto that the agency was concerned about a possible terrorist attack against her and urged her to limit her public exposure and to keep a low profile at the campaign event at the Liaquat Bagh later that day.
According to the findings, another source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Saud Aziz was ordered to hose down the scene by the then MI chief.
The report said that an ISI officer, Rawalpindi Detachment Commander Colonel Jehangir Akhtar, was present at the RGH through much of the evening. At one point, ISI deputy chief Major General Nusrat Naeem, contacted senior physician Prof Mussadiq through Colonel Jehangir’s cell phone. When asked about this by the commission, Nusrat Naeem initially denied making any calls to the hospital, but then acknowledged that he had indeed called when pressed further. He asserted that he had made the call, before reporting to his superiors, to hear, directly from Prof Mussadiq that Benazir Bhutto had died.
The commission said sources informed it that Saud Aziz did not act independently in deciding to hose down the crime scene. One source, on condition of anonymity, said the CPO had confided to him that he had received a call from the Army Headquarters instructing him to order the hosing down of the crime scene.
Others, including three police officials, told the commission that Saud Aziz did not act independently and that “everyone knows” who ordered the hosing down. However, they were not willing to state on the record what it is that “everyone knows”. This is one of the many occasions during the commission’s inquiry when individuals, including government officials, expressed fear or hesitation to speak openly, the report said.
It said that on three different occasions, senior Physician Professor Mussadiq of the RGH, where Benazir Bhutto was brought from the Liaquat Bagh, asked Saud Aziz for permission to conduct her autopsy, and the CPO refused each request. On the second request, Saud Aziz is reported to have sarcastically asked the professor whether an FIR had been filed, a matter that the CPO should know, not the professor.
The report said that the then District Coordination Officer of Rawalpindi Irfan Elahi (now a senior Punjab government official), who was also present outside the operating room of the RGH, supported the CPO’s position. The authorities, however, deny that the CPO deliberately refused to allow an autopsy. They insist that they wanted to get permission from Benazir Bhutto’s family. However, the commission said the police’s legal duty to request an autopsy does not require permission from a family member.
It said that because Prof Mussadiq could not obtain police consent to carry out an autopsy, he called in X-ray technician Ghafoor Jadd, who took two X-rays of her skull with a portable X-ray machine. He did this without notifying or seeking Saud Aziz’s consent. Though not present at the time, a radiologist examined the X-rays the next day. Benazir Bhutto’s death certificate was completed and signed by the senior registrar, Dr Aurangzeb, who recorded the cause of death as “To be determined on autopsy”.
The report said that soon after the blast outside the Liaquat Bagh the CPO left the crime scene for the RGH; SSP Yaseen Farooq followed shortly thereafter. The most senior Rawalpindi police official remaining at the crime scene was SP Khurram Shahzad, who continued to take instructions from Saud Aziz by telephone. The management of the crime scene and the collection of evidence by the Rawalpindi police during this time have generated considerable controversy.
The commission said that senior Pakistani police officials explained to it that in law and practice, the ranking police official at the scene of the crime takes decisions relating to crime scene management. SP Khurram asserted that he made the decision to hose down the scene. Before issuing the order to the rescue and fire services, Khurram called his superior, Saud Aziz, to seek permission, which was granted. Sources, including police officials familiar with the case, questioned the veracity of SP Khurram’s claim that the decision was his initiative.
The report said Saud Aziz’s role in this decision is controversial. Many senior Pakistani police officials have emphasised that hosing down a crime scene is fundamentally inconsistent with Pakistani police practice. While they acknowledge that there is no uniformity of practice in crime scene management in Pakistan, the washing of such a place is considered extraordinary. Indeed, with the exception of some Rawalpindi police officials, nearly all senior Pakistani police officials have criticised the manner in which this crime scene was managed. One senior police official argued that hosing down the crime scene amounted to “criminal negligence”.
According to the commission, several senior police officials who know the CPO were troubled that an officer with his 33 years of experience would allow a major crime scene to be washed away, thereby damaging his reputation.
The report said that some senior Pakistani police officials identified further factors suggesting that the CPO was not acting independently. They point out that, while the deliberate hosing down of a scene is unheard of in police practice, it has occurred on a few occasions, in each case when the military has been the target of such attacks and the crime scene was managed by the military directly.
Even Saud Aziz, the commission said, when asserting to it that there were precedents for hosing down a crime scene, acknowledged that all the incidents which he posited as precedents actually involved a military target. The police officials who point out this pattern saw it as further indication that the military was involved in having the crime scene hosed down.
The report said since the extraordinary nature of the hosing down of the crime scene generated such controversy that Punjab government officials recognised that some response was necessary. A three-member inquiry committee was set up by the chief minister to look into the washing down of the crime scene. The commission requested meetings with these individuals, which the facilitation committee was not able to arrange. No credible reason was provided. However, the committee accepted the Rawalpindi police explanation that the decision to wash the crime scene was formed by the investigating police officer at the scene, SP Khurram, with permission from CPO Saud Aziz, on grounds of public order. The committee had further found that the decision was not made with any mala fide intention and that washing the crime scene did not negatively impact on the conclusion as to the cause of death.
The commission said Benazir Bhutto’s Land Cruiser was initially taken to the City Police Station some time after midnight early on December 28 and then taken to the Police Lines. In the early hours of December 28, Saud Aziz went to see the Police Lines, together with others, including ISI officers, who were the first to conduct a forensic examination of the vehicle. An investigating police officer on the orders of the CPO removed Benazir Bhutto’s shoes and took them to the City Police Station. Sometime thereafter, the shoes were ordered back into the car.
The report said the commission is not convinced that the decision to wash the scene was made by Saud Aziz alone. The attack was too significant and its target too important to Pakistani society to make such a decision solely on his level.
“Sources told the commission that CPO Saud Aziz was constantly talking on his mobile phone while at the hospital. In the commission’s view, he has not adequately explained who called him during that time. Other sources have provided credible information about the intervention of intelligence agencies in the case. Whoever was responsible for this decision, and for whatever reason, acted in a manner that is contrary to the most basic police standards and hampered the proper investigation of the assassination,” the report said.
The report said the lack of a clear cause of death established by an autopsy severely affected the credibility of the government among the general public and has given rise to wide speculation as to the cause of Benazir Bhutto’s death. CPO Saud Aziz again appears in a setting in which he seems to have been able to impede the effective investigation of the crime. Again, it is unlikely that a police officer of his level could make such significant and ultimately destructive decisions on his own and wield such power. He maintains that he did not deny any requests for an autopsy.
Furthermore, it said, the CPO impeded some Joint Investigation Team investigators from conducting on-site probe until two full days after the assassination. The failure of Punjab authorities to otherwise review effectively the gross failures of the senior Rawalpindi police officials and deal with them appropriately constitutes a broader whitewash by Punjab officials.
The commission said the deliberate prevention by the CPO of a post mortem examination of Benazir Bhutto hindered a definitive determination of the cause of her death. It was patently unrealistic for the CPO to expect that Asif Zardari would allow an autopsy on his arrival in Pakistan at the Chaklala Airbase nearly seven hours after his wife’s death and after her remains had been placed in a coffin and brought to the airport. The autopsy should have been carried out at the RGH long before Zardari arrived.
Hamid Gul says UN did nothing but saved Zardari! What a fool we have for EX DG ISI AND MI TOO: Saturday, April 17, 2010, Jamadi-ul-Awwal 02, 1431 A.H
http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/apr2010-daily/17-04-2010/main2.htm
The UN report did nothing but opened myriad conspiracy theories. All leading to no where. UN’s report is just like a crime story from ‘Criminal Investigative Journalism’, supplying us the heap of hay stacks and challenging us instead to find a needle within it. Indicting almost any one and pinpointing to no one. Obviously, that’s the best they can do. Money gone waste in haste or may be intentional, just to keep the mouth of workers shut. A lot of stuff for PPP supporters, media men (National and International) and politicians to talk about for decades, by designing multiple dimensional theories. We may hear some links and evidences when the designers will get old to the ages near death and sudden awakening of conscience will force them to disclose the real drama like ‘Billa the former ISI Chief’. Media will catch immense business till the time the UN report will be discussed.
Just like the killing of JFK or Abraham Lincoln, BB’s assassination was also part of a very bigger game than envisaged at that time, till now and will remain as it is. It simply does not seem to be casted out of local actors. Denying the bullet wound by UN, is simply bowing down in front of the real bigger directors of the drama. No body will be found guilty or will never be directly indicted, ever. There is no doubt that many current PPP elements were involved in the great game. Few are still in power and few are sidelined by force.
Questions will be and have been raised from within the circles like, why Saud Aziz is appointed on the highest echelons after the incident by PPP govt., ( another effort of reconciliation with criminal?). I remember Mr. Rehman Malik pointed out that washing away of the crime scene was also a part of the plan to abolish the evidences and itself a criminal act. What measures an interior minister did to bring out the criminal to justice. Some reconciliation by elevating a criminal to the highest seat and respected as such.
Mr. Rehman Malik (the BB’s security Incharge) was not on the scene and was watching the incident and turmoil on TV with Babar Awan and Farhat Ullah Babar, in F-8 house, Islamabad. He claims to had the reports of assassination attempt on BB, well before BB came to Pakistan and insisted the Musharaf govt to improve the security measures. Why and when, a close friend of Mr. Zardari and security incharge of BB escaped from the scene and reached a safe hideout. Did they had the knowledge of the imminent riot situation after the incident? Some close friend and incharge! Or should we burry the matter just by saying as kind Yousaf Raza Gillani had said recently, ‘the place and time of death and birth are all written above in the books of God’, so what’s the need of Scotland Yard and United Nation inquiries.
Let leave alone the UN report as PPP will never be able to indict or fight Musharaf, ISI, Army, establishment, CIA, etc. Better clean up the inside mess, if they really want to.
Hamid Gul says it is ‘Save Zardari Report’ Saturday, April 17, 2010 By Mazhar Tufail
http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=234666
ISLAMABAD: There is nothing new in the UN Commission report on the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, except giving a clean chit to President Asif Ali Zardari, former chief of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt Gen (R) Hamid Gul said here on Friday. “Despite the fact that Benazir Bhutto had deviated from the American agenda before her assassination, there is no mention of the United States and Blackwater (now renamed Xe Worldwide),” said the former top spymaster of the country while talking to The News.
“Also, there is no mention of Khalid Shahinshah, who was a prime witness,” he commented. Lt Gen (retd) Hamid Gul said that former military ruler Gen (retd) Musharraf, who was at the helm of affairs when Benazir Bhutto was murdered, too was given protocol by the incumbent government and allowed to go abroad. He said there was no difference between the UN Commission report and that of the Scotland Yard. “The government’s request for a UN inquiry is nothing except expression of distrust in the national investigation agencies,” the former ISI chief said.
“Had the national institutions been tasked with a thorough probe into the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the real culprits might have been exposed,” he remarked. The former top spymaster of the country believed that the Taliban and al-Qaeda were not involved in the assassination of the former Pakistani prime minister and were dragged in merely to malign them. He opined that he did not see the involvement of Pakistani or religious elements in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
Stupidity of General Retd. Hamid Gul: If we apply Hamid Gul’s logic then Jinnah’s death was caused by a conspiracy hatched by Fatimah Jinnah to possess property, Pistol was not fired by Said Akbar on Liaquat but by Rana Liaquat and Tara Maseeh was Nusrat Bhutto in Kot Lakhpat Jail in 1979.
Stupidity of General Retd. Hamid Gul: If we apply Hamid Gul’s logic then Jinnah’s death was caused by a conspiracy hatched by Fatimah Jinnah to possess property, Pistol was not fired by Said Akbar on Liaquat but by Rana Liaquat and Tara Maseeh was Nusrat Bhutto in Kot Lakhpat Jail in 1979.
Brigadier (R) Imtiaz ‘Exposes’ General (R) Hamid Gul
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s former chief of intelligence Brig. Imtiaz Ahmed (Ret.) has strongly rebuffed the allegations of being the CIA and Israeli agent, which was leveled by Hamid Gul in his interview with Arab News on Sunday. SOURCE: Pakistan’s ex-spy chief rebuffs Gul’s remarks by Azhar Masood I Arab News Tuesday 28 July 2009 (30, Shaban, 1430)
In a statement, Brig. Ahmed said that Hamid Gul is a “compulsive liar.” SOURCE: Pakistan’s ex-spy chief rebuffs Gul’s remarks by Azhar Masood I Arab News Tuesday 28 July 2009 (30, Shaban, 1430)
He alleged the statement made by Gul reflects his “intellectual and mental bankruptcy” and “innate shallowness.” “Those who know Gul inside out would bear me out, as they know that Gul is the embodiment of opportunism,” he added. “The history of my 17-year career in intelligence is testimony to the fact that I have always fought against the CIA, the Mossad, the RAW (India’s intelligence service), the KGB and other hostile intelligence outfits, at the risk to my life, to defend the sovereignty of my country.” SOURCE: Pakistan’s ex-spy chief rebuffs Gul’s remarks Azhar Masood I Arab News Tuesday 28 July 2009 (30, Shaban, 1430)
Imtiaz vowed to uncover the misdeeds and dreadful professional failure of Gul in the near future. “Gul has forgotten that he begged for a higher position from many rulers including Pervez Musharraf in the past. SOURCE: Pakistan’s ex-spy chief rebuffs Gul’s remarks by Azhar Masood I Arab News Tuesday 28 July 2009 (30, Shaban, 1430)
I also remind Gul about his dirty role played in the past to create serious misgivings between the then Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and Farooq Leghari, who was then the president.” SOURCE: Pakistan’s ex-spy chief rebuffs Gul’s remarks by Azhar Masood I Arab News Tuesday 28 July 2009 (30, Shaban, 1430)
http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2009/08/brigadier-r-imtiaz-exposes-general-r.html
Would Hamid Gul like to give some clue about his role in General Zia’s death? Brigadier (R) Imtiaz, Death of General Zia & American Conspiracy! http://chagataikhan.blogspot.com/2009/09/brigadier-r-imtiaz-death-of-general-zia.html
The establishment’s (ISI, anti-democracy military and civil bureaucrats, Bhutto haters) reaction to this report is: “It is Save Zardari report’.
This is the line taken by Shakeel Anjum (and promoted by Talat Hussain) in Talat Hussain’s program.
This is the line taken by General Hamid Gul.
And this line will soon be adopted by other cronies, e.g. Ansar Abbasi and Shahid Masood etc.
Other typical responses will be: It is a wastage of money. It is a waste of time. etc.
@Khan The UN team’s report is as best as it could within the terms of reference of the UN team. Don’t act as confused.
“If we apply Hamid Gul’s logic then Jinnah’s death was caused by a conspiracy hatched by Fatimah Jinnah to possess property”
that’s a great comment 🙂
akhtar it is really depressing that almost everyone is repeating this “nothing new” line one gets the feeling that many people are disappointed that the report only implicated the musharraf government and didn’t construct a massive worldwide plot to balkanize pakistan. they are clearly not interested in reading in only about the military’s murder of BB.
@ali hasan shah Thank you. I understand that you are a dedicated supporter of Naheed Baji, who used to be very close to Benazir Bhutto.
Abdul Hafeez Prizada, Mubashir Hassan, Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, Ghulam Mustafa Khar, Hanif Ramay, Kosar Niazi etc used to be very close to BB’s father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
Time changes, and so do people.
Can’t you see that Naheed Khan and Safdar Abbasi, the two misguided souls, are currently dear and near to the ISI and their agents in Pakistani media, in particular Dr Shahid Masood and Syed Talat Hussain?
Chaudhry Mumtaz, the so called protocol officer (actually his duty was car washing and cleaning) wanted to have a lucrative post in the PPP’s government, and is therefore barking like a rabid dog.
I have read the Article 95 of the report. It suggests nothing but only the fact that there was mismanagement at the scene. So what? PPP is not a professionally trained security agency or a crisis management cell.
Open your eyes and mind. Read the report carefully once again, without the glasses you borrowed from Dr Shahid Masood and Naheed Baji.
@Rabia litmus test of the ISI’s agents in Pakistani media:
“There is nothing new in the report”
“It is ‘Save Zardari’ report’
‘It is a waste of money’
‘The report indicts sitting ministers of the PPP government’
In contrast, the dedicated workers of the PPP will keep pressing the democratic government to inflict punishment on the killers of BB shaheed through democracy and elections. That’s the best revenge we can take from BB’s killers, i.e., kick them out from the corridors of power, not least from the presidency and the parliament.
This is as close as we can get to justice sans a bloody revolution in the land of the pure.
@Aamir Mughal
As expected, Hamid Gul is active to defend and save the real killers of Benazir Bhutto
Hamid Gul says it is ‘Save Zardari Report’
Saturday, April 17, 2010
By Mazhar Tufail
ISLAMABAD: There is nothing new in the UN Commission report on the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, except giving a clean chit to President Asif Ali Zardari, former chief of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt Gen (R) Hamid Gul said here on Friday.
“Despite the fact that Benazir Bhutto had deviated from the American agenda before her assassination, there is no mention of the United States and Blackwater (now renamed Xe Worldwide),” said the former top spymaster of the country while talking to The News.
“Also, there is no mention of Khalid Shahinshah, who was a prime witness,” he commented. Lt Gen (retd) Hamid Gul said that former military ruler Gen (retd) Musharraf, who was at the helm of affairs when Benazir Bhutto was murdered, too was given protocol by the incumbent government and allowed to go abroad.
He said there was no difference between the UN Commission report and that of the Scotland Yard. “The government’s request for a UN inquiry is nothing except expression of distrust
in the national investigation agencies,” the former ISI chief said.
“Had the national institutions been tasked with a thorough probe into the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the real culprits might have been exposed,” he remarked. The former top spymaster of the country believed that the Taliban and al-Qaeda were not involved in the assassination of the former Pakistani prime minister and were dragged in merely to malign them. He opined that he did not see the involvement of Pakistani or religious elements in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=234666
Hameed Gul wants Pakistani agencies (read killers of BB) to investigate BB’s murder.
UN commission report is nothing but wastage of money: Hamid Gul
ISLAMABAD: Former DG ISI, General Hamid Gul has said that UN Commission’s report is nothing but wastage of money and time.
Talking to a private TV channel here on Friday the former DG ISI said that if former President Pervez Musharraf was culprit then why he was given the protocol while President Asif Ali Zardari has been declared innocent according to the report.
He said that the whole nation wanted to know the name of BB’s killer and in the UN Commission’s report Pervez Musharraf was held responsible for her assassination but he was given the protocol by PPP led government.
He went on to say that that the report was a fraud and it seems that few elements wanted to close this chapter. He said that Pakistani agencies should investigate the whole incident because the world was aware of the efficiencies and capabilities of Pakistan’s agencies.
He said that UN commission did not cover all the aspects of the incident and the report was based on half evidences.
http://www.onlinenews.com.pk/details.php?id=161567
How could Kamran Khan leave behind in the “Save the ISI campaign’.
http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/apr2010-daily/17-04-2010/topst/main10.gif
According to Kamran Khan, the UN report is a waste of time and money. It seems that Kamran Khan did not read the report and also did not read its Terms of Reference.
One of the oldest assets of the ISI in Pakistani media!!
Role of police, Musharraf, Establishment, agencies questioned
Saturday, April 17, 2010
By Amir Mir
LAHORE: The United Nations Inquiry Commission has trashed the findings of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) of Punjab Police in the Bhutto murder which had claimed having solved the case way back in February 2008 by tracing out the mastermind and the killers who are now being tried by an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi.
A Joint Investigation Team (JIT) led by Ch Abdul Majeed, Additional Inspector General of the CID Punjab, had concluded after the arrest and interrogation of five militants allegedly involved in the attack that the plot was masterminded by Baitullah Mehsud who had given Rs. 4,00,000 to Qari Ismail from Akora Khattak to execute the Bhutto assassination plan. However, as per the UN report, those already arrested and being tried are not the main accused. The UN report points out that the charges against the five arrested accused include aiding and abetting terrorism, murder and concealing information about the commission of a crime. It adds that the JIT focused its efforts on investigating the alleged role of these low-level individuals and essentially ceased investigating the possibility of other perpetrators, particularly those involved in planning the murder by funding or enabling the assassination.
The UN Commission then questions another conclusion made by the CID Punjab about Baitullah Mehsud being the mastermind of the Rawalpindi suicide attack that killed Ms Bhutto. The report describes as premature the Musharraf regime’s assertion that Baitullah was behind the assassination, adding that such a hasty announcement of the perpetrator prejudiced the police investigations which had not yet begun by that time.
The UN also questions the authenticity of the taped conversation produced by the Interior Minister hardly 24 hours after the Bhutto murder wherein Baitullah was congratulating one Emir Sahib on an event which Brig Cheema asserted was the assassination. The report clearly states that the Commission was not in a position to evaluate the authenticity of the purported intercept”.
The Commission points out the pertinent fact that the Joint Investigation Team of CID Punjab and Rawalpindi Police neither interrogated or interviewed any of the three Musharraf aides Ms Bhutto had described as threat to her security in her October 16, 2007 letter which was addressed to General Musharraf. Also, the JIT members admitted that virtually their most important information pertaining to the murder, including that which led to the identification and arrest of the five suspects now in prison, came from intelligence agencies. The JIT hardly took into account any other hypotheses, followed leads or developed its own evidence beyond the framework set by those agencies.
‘Bhutto was a threat for Musharraf’
BB WAS A THREAT TO MUSHARRAF: The Commission had endorsed the perception that she had emerged as a potential threat for General Musharraf, as she increasingly challenged his plans to maintain his hold on power, first by returning to Pakistan to campaign, then by focusing on the potential for election rigging, and finally by campaigning directly against the military dictatorship during the weeks of martial law. It also confirms Bhutto’s own assertions before her death that Musharraf had become angry at her for her sharp criticism of the General’s policies and his regime, even after having engaged in negotiations with him. Therefore, over the course of her election campaign, Bhutto had developed the view that Musharraf was the main threat to her safety.
The UN Inquiry Commission has stated quite bluntly that the Establishment was threatened by the possibility of Bhutto’s return to high public office and that it was involved in or bears some responsibility for her death, because her return to an active political life in Pakistan was being seen as a threat to their power. Thus, Bhutto, through her writings and public statements, was outspoken as to the sources of the threats she faced. And according to the Commission, key among these were elements of the Pakistani Establishment, whose tactics and reach she knew well.
UN probe touches upon dubious role of Pakistani agencies
INTELLIGENCE: The Inquiry Commission’s report seems quite blunt in many of its observations pertaining to the role of Pakistani intelligence establishment in national politics. The UN investigators state in their report quite frankly that they encountered abundant confirmation of the pervasive reach, control and clandestine role of intelligence agencies in the Pakistani society. According to their observation, in the course of inquiry, they encountered abundant confirmation of this not only in law enforcement matters, but also in various aspects of the country’s political life during 2007. Particularly noteworthy was the intense involvement of intelligence agencies in criminal investigations. As per the Commission’s findings, while it is often necessary, especially in terrorism cases, for intelligence agencies to provide significant assistance to police investigative authorities, in the investigation of Ms Bhutto’s assassination, the role of intelligence agencies far exceeded an assisting role, with the effect of subordinating law enforcement institutions.
During the course of Bhutto murder investigations, several high-ranking law enforcement officials expressed concerns to the Commission that resources to build investigative capacity, especially in terrorism-related cases, have gone to the intelligence agencies, while police resources and capacity lag. The UN report reveals that Pakistani intelligences agencies, and in particular the ISI, had carried out parallel investigations into both the suicide attack in the port city of Karachi and in the garrison town of Rawalpindi and also made some arrests. However, to the disappointment of the Commission, evidence gathered from such parallel investigations was selectively shared with the Punjab police. At the same time, however, the Commission members opine that the failure of the Punjab Police to investigate effectively Ms Bhutto’s assassination was deliberate as the officials, fearing intelligence agencies’ involvement, were unsure of how vigorously they ought to pursue actions, which they knew, as professionals, they should have taken.
Therefore, the Commission has rightly stated that it remains the responsibility of the Pakistani authorities to carry out a serious, credible criminal investigation that determines who conceived, ordered and executed the assassination of Ms Bhutto and brings those responsible to justice.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=28356
@Akhtar Yes, I still understand and agree that the report is exactly as per UN charter on international criminal investigations. There is no point of confusion just desperation. I still believe and report did signalled towards the point, that such a game can not be played simply by external forces alone. External I may mean it can not be played without the help of inner elements. Just by saying ”PPP is not a Professionally Trained Security Agency or Crisis Management Cell” is not suffice at all as it will just undermining the sense of responsibility. If that is so and PPP do not have highly qualified security personels and arrangements then any PPP minister must not appear in public, ever. BB was an Internationaly acclaimed leader and her security was to be so much accurate by PPP itself. It was the first duty of PPP security staff to provide primary and secondary level security to BB, like all international political leaders enjoy and then leave the third level to the government of Pakistan, if any. Any mismanagement, breach or compromise in level III, can be detected and avoided by secondary and then primary. That is the maxim of international security measures to VIPs. Does Mr. Malik is not aware of such measures or they are unable to afford it? It does not mean we are blaming him for the whole drama but common sense does not allow such sloppy measures and denials afterwards with blames. Accept it honestly that the internal (primary and secondary level) security lapse is more serious at the times when imminent threat of assasination is in front and also when a serious attempt had been made in Karachi on BB. This is an act of criminal negligence.
Musharraf aide says UN report a ‘pack of lies’
ISLAMABAD: The UN report on the assassination of Benazir Bhutto is a “pack of lies”, Rashid Qureshi, an aide of former president Pervez Musharraf, said on Friday. He said the UN report was based on rumours and Musharraf – currently living abroad – was not responsible. “This UN chief investigator was not the relative of Sherlock Homes,” Qureshi said. “It is a pack of lies.” He said Benazir exposed herself to the risk even after the head of the Inter-Services Intelligence warned her not to attend the rally because of threats of an attack. ap
http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\04\17\story_17-4-2010_pg1_7
@Khan Here is a way forward!
UN probe: no one’s above the law
By Muhammad Akram
LAHORE: The UN commission’s report on the events and circumstances surrounding Benazir Bhutto’s assassination two and half years ago has affirmed what people and the PPP had been saying since then, that the disgraced Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf’s administration and his cronies were responsible for BB’s murder, as they didn’t provide her enough security and destroyed vital evidence after the attack.
The report criticises elements of the Musharraf administration for deliberately blocking an investigation into Benazir’s assassination. It also cites police’s decision to immediately ‘cleanse’ the crime scene, saying that was ordered by intelligence agencies to provide a major obstacle in finding the perpetrators.
The UN report has exonerated President Asif Zardari and his family, much to the PPP’s relief and to the dismay of many of those who had been viewing this perspective with a jaundiced eye. However, questions have risen about the security plan devised by Benazir’s own party and why her route to Islamabad was changed at the last moment when she left Liaquat Bagh. It is also being questioned why the vehicle meant for an emergency was not following Benazir’s car at the time of the attack. Another question is why police obstructed her post-mortem.
The report, although legally not admissible in local courts, paves the way for a full-fledged probe by local investigation agencies to punish those responsible.
It cannot be stated with authority that the government had been conducting an inquiry parallel to the UN probe since it assumed power, and only off the cough statements of Interior Minister Rehman Malik are available to the count. But it’s high time the government set up a high-profile commission to identify the mastermind behind this heinous act and the perpetrators of Benazir’s murder.
Benazir’s assassination did create rifts in the PPP and many within the party were suspected for their role in the crime. Benazir’s political secretary Naheed Khan and her spouse Safdar Abbasi were sidelined by the party over suspicions that they let Benazir get out her car’s sunroof. The report also questions how the backup vehicle had gone missing. It is being reported that the vehicle was under Rehman Malik’s control, who was accompanied by Law minister Babar Awan. It is being alleged that due to the non-availability of the backup vehicle, Benazir’s bulletproof vehicle was rushed to the hospital but could not go far, as one of its tyres got punctured and Benazir was taken to the hospital in Sherry Rehman’s car.
The UN report underlines that “several conspiracy theories were circulating since her assassination” that caused misunderstandings within the party and diverted attention from the real issue.
A fresh probe – supervised by local investigation agencies independently or under a commission’s supervision – should focus on the points raised in the UN report, including hampering an investigation into Benazir’s murder by the intelligence agencies, deliberate attempts on the police’s part to not probe the incident, a premature declaration by then government that Benazir was killed by her vehicle’s hatch and that Baitullah Mehsud was responsible for the murder, hosing of the crime scene and failure to conduct a post-mortem.
The government should know that it has to respond to the UN commission’s findings without delay. It has to act with all its might to do what the commission has stressed on: a criminal investigation to study the role of al Qaeda, Taliban and the “establishment”.
Punishing the conspirators and perpetrators of Benazir’s assassination is the PPP government’s prime responsibility. The PPP could earn laurels and become a real force to reckon with if it carries out a serious investigation to bring the criminals to justice. This will put an end to the conspiracy theories being spread by the party’s “enemies”, besides helping sort out rifts and friction between different groups within the party.
http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\04\17\story_17-4-2010_pg7_34
And also this one:
This renders the entire government of Pervez Musharraf culpable as a conspirator in the death of one of the nation’s most dynamic leaders, and the first woman to be elected prime minister of a Muslim country.
The government of her now widowed husband has no other choice but to investigate and bring to book all those involved in this conspiracy of assassination and subsequent cover-up. With the UN commission categorically announcing that it has no part to play in the subsequent criminal proceedings, the ball is in the government’s court. If proper investigations point the finger of accusation at the government of the time, the registration of FIRs on everybody even remotely linked to the killing and/or cover-up from Musharraf right down to the then Punjab chief minister Pervaiz Elahi and responsible officials cannot be shirked.
http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\04\17\story_17-4-2010_pg3_1
An apt comment by Naive (pkpolitics)
the UN report is a document for the historians of the future. If there had not been the Hamood-ur-Rehman Commission Report, we would not havebeen able to know the truth behind the disintegration of Pakistan and the high-handedness with which we had handled our brother from the then East Pakistan. I agree with a brother who has opined above that an SHO of our Police can not be imagined to even talk to (not to mention of “investigate”) the high ups.
The report, though apparently inconclusive, is highly suggestive and makes quite a few revelations for understanding the ASSASSINATION of Benazir.
PML-N calls for murder proceedings against Musharraf over Bhutto’s assassination
April 17th, 2010 – 2:40 pm ICT by ANI –
Islamabad, Apr.17 (ANI): Following the UN enquiry commission’s report over former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, which held the then Musharraf regime responsible for the killing, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has once again raised the demand for the former general’s trial.
PML-N spokesperson Parvaiz Rashid said the UN report has made it apparent that Musharraf was directly involved in Bhutto’s assassination, and now the government must not waste any time to start the former President’s trial.
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/south-asia/pml-n-calls-for-murder-proceedings-against-musharraf-over-bhuttos-assassination_100349309.html
Khaled Ahmed explaining the “nothing new” mindset:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/17/world/asia/17bhutto.html
The coverage on Friday was more notable for what it left out than for what it said, said Khaled Ahmed, an author and columnist for the Friday Times, a weekly newspaper. There were few references to the most scathing part of the report about the military’s role.
“The report is quite damning, but the way it’s presented on TV is inconclusive,” Mr. Ahmed said. “We don’t know who did it. That’s the kind of impression that will be created here.” He added: “Very clearly there’s a reluctance to point to the army. This is what everybody has ignored.”
The reason, he said, is part psychology and part national identity. Pakistan’s army has long represented the central and most crucial part of this country’s idea of itself, a symbol of protection against Pakistan’s mortal foe, India. That narrative is taught in textbooks and reinforced in society, and going against it is like attacking yourself. “The army has a geopolitical mind that is unchanging, and that’s what people love,” Mr. Ahmed said.
Why is everyone mum about the Bhutto killer? Sunday, December 27, 2009 By Amir Mir http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=215600
LAHORE: Two years down the road since Benazir Bhutto’s tragic assassination in the garrison town of Rawalpindi, her murder mystery remains unresolved despite President Zardari’s significant public statements like “she talks about her murderers from her grave” and that “I know her assassins and will reveal their identity at the right time”.
Addressing his first press conference after the murder, Asif Zardari made public Bhutto’s October, 20 2007 email to Wolf Blitzer, a staffer of the CNN which mentioned the name of her would-be assassin. “The said e-mail should be treated as Bhutto’s dying declaration. She talks about her murderers from her grave and it is up to the world to listen to the echoes”, Zardari said.
Bhutto wrote to Wolf Blitzer in her e-mail: “If it is God’s will, nothing will happen to me. However, if anything happened to me, I would hold Pervez Musharraf responsible”. Blitzer received the e-mail on October 26 from Mark Siegel, a friend and long-time Washington spokesman for Benazir Bhutto. That was eight days after she narrowly escaped an attempt on her life in Karachi. Bhutto wrote to Wolf: “I have been made to feel insecure by Musharraf’s minions”.
On October 19, 2007, a day after the Karsaz suicide bombing on her welcome procession, Benazir disclosed at a press conference that she had informed Musharraf in a confidential letter, written on 16 October, 2007 that three senior officials of his government were planning to assassinate her upon her return. “However, I had further made it clear to Musharraf that I won’t blame (the) Taliban or al-Qaeda if I am attacked, but I will name my enemies in the Pakistani military establishment,” she told journalists. Although Benazir did not publicly name the three persons, PPP circles later told the media that they were the then director general Intelligence Bureau, Brigadier (retd) Ejaz Hussain Shah, chief minister Punjab Pervaiz Elahi and chief minister Sindh Arbab Ghulam Rahim. While concluding the letter, she reportedly asserted that her life was in great danger, particularly from Ejaz Shah.
Significantly, on December 30, 2007, two days after Benazir’s murder, a visibly furious Asif Zardari had accused [at a press conference in Naudero] the PML-Q leadership of his wife’s murder besides describing the party as “Qatil League”. Hitting back in the same tone the same evening (on December 30, 2007), Pervaiz Elahi had charged Zardari for Bhutto’s murder, saying: “Who has benefited the most from the assassination? Zardari, and only Zardari. Check the authenticity of Benazir’s will. Find out the amount for which she was insured.” By that time, Zardari had already been elected as the Co-chairman of the PPP.
On October 18, 2008, on the first anniversary of the terrorist attack made on Bhutto’s procession, the Karachi Police finally lodged a second FIR of the Karsaz attacks on the basis of her letter, naming three persons as those who could be involved in her assassination. National newspapers reported on October 20, 2008 that those named in the second were Pervez Elahi, Ejaz Shah and Hameed Gul. Confirming the lodging of the second FIR, Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah said Bhutto’s own attempts to lodge a second FIR of the Karsaz tragedy were foiled by the PML-Q government. The same day, Qaim Ali Shah declared in Karachi that the three persons nominated by Benazir Bhutto would be arrested soon for interrogations.
However, no such arrests were made. Ten days later, Pervaiz Elahi claimed in an exclusive interview with The News on November 1, 2008 that the Presidency had stopped the Sindh government from implicating him in the Benazir murder case. Elahi revealed that following the registration of a second FIR in the Karsaz case, he and his first cousin Ch Shujaat Hussain went to see Asif Zardari’s close aide, Qayyum Soomro, who had delivered their message to the president. “After our meeting with Soomro during which we protested on the issue, [Sindh Home Minister] Dr Zulfiqar Mirza was told by the Presidency not to talk about the case any more”. Elahi’s claim eventually proved to be true given the fact that after the initial outburst against the PML-Q leaders, not only Dr Zulfiqar Mirza and Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah fell silent but the rest of the PPP leaders also adopted a mysterious mum.
But almost two months later, while speaking on the first anniversary of Bhutto, President Zardari claimed on December 27, 2008 that he knew her killers and would reveal their identity at the right time. Six months later, on July 6, 2009, Zardari blamed Musharraf for the Bhutto murder, saying she died by a bullet and not by the bomb that a Scotland Yard report identified as the cause. “I wish Musharraf had looked after my wife as I can look after myself,” Asif Zardari told British newspaper The Telegraph in an interview.
Almost five weeks later, on September 15, Zardari conceded at a dinner meeting with senior newsmen that foreign powers with interest in the South Asian region had guaranteed a safe exit to his predecessor, and he too had been party to the deal that was struck at the time of Musharraf’s resignation in 2008. A belated denial by the presidential spokesman came two days later.
In November 2009, Musharraf was finally made to appear before the UN inquiry commission, taking a U-turn on his earlier stance that any outside agency has no legal ground to question him. Following his refusal to be interviewed, the UN commission had actually warned Musharraf his name would be passed on to the UN Secretary General as the one not cooperating with the commission. He was finally interviewed by the UN commission in Philadelphia on October 27, 2009.
On December 10, 2009, the Lahore High Court decided to precede ex-parte against Musharraf on a petition seeking registration of a criminal case against him and others for allegedly plotting the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. On 14 December 2008, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced that he was extending the mandate of the UN commission investigating the Bhutto murder by another three months as sought by its chairman who wanted more time to complete its work. The commission was mandated to submit its report to the UN secretary general by 31 December 2009 amidst strong apprehensions that like all infamous assassination cases the people of Pakistan have witnessed, the mastermind in the Bhutto murder case will too remain a shadowy figure on whose role people will only speculate about in whispers.
an interesting comment from pkpolitics (sorry for long C&P, but it is worth reading):
KAWA said:
This is my theory;
BB came back under a deal with Mush. The deal was simple. Mush remains the President, BB the third time PM and a clean chit for all the corruption worth millions or billions. Upon arrival Pak, BB realized how much that man (Mush) was hated except in Karachi (for ethnic reasons). To save PPP from falling popularity graph, she started defying Mush and going against the terms of agreement of NRO. Mush being what he was realized that he could no longer trust BB (remember 12th May, he got 60 people assassinated in Karachi at the hands of Altaf to save guard his power), knowing fully well that there was threat against BB’s life, used his cousin the DG ISI Maj Gen Nadeem to plan this conspiracy. If ever or whenever this thing is investigated, the plot was made by Mush & the involvement of ISI (under his cousin’s command). It was a simple plan, put the marksmen in place at Liaqat bagh, reduce police security at exit (remember there was news that the local DSP on duty got a call that there has been shooting at NS jalsa and to move police over there..). With lapse in security and no cordon, people just moved in a encircled BB’s car literally forcing the driver to bring it to halt (ISI knew exactly what would happen). BB came out of the car (natural reaction of any political leader of that stature) and that’s where the game plan was set to take place.
As much as I hate the three clowns; Babar Awan, Farhatullat Babar & Rehman Malik, I feel these three had no idea of what was going on. This was a classic ISI hit similar to how Murtaza Bhutto was taken down. The military carried the file of the major who got killed in the Afghan plane hijacking where Al Zulfiqar was involved. Case was with S.I.B military intelligence and the officer who carried that file had every intention to close that chapter with the death of Murtaza. The police officers involved had no idea what they were doing that day at Clifton, except to stop MM and check whether the guns he and his guards carried were licensed. Then suddenly right after the MB and his guards were stopped, all the street lights go out, then there is fire exchange and someone shoots MB point blank in the head. I have known many of the senior police officers involved in that operation and to this date they have “NO IDEA” what the hell happened.
Today, SIB carries another file and that is of Maj Kaleem torture by MQM in Karachi. Although Maj Kaleem has long retired as Lt Col but the man who carries his file in SIB has one mission and that is to exterminate Saleem Shehzad (MQM). That is why when Saleem Shehzad after years of exile in U.K, came to Karachi to attend his mothers funeral, he got special permission from Mush to be in the country for 24 hours (MQM had enough clout with Mush to be able to take 24 hour clearance). Saleem Shehzad left in the wee hours of night. If ever he comes back, he will meet a similar fate like BB and Murtaza. It will be set up in a way, that MQM Altaf will blame MQM Haqiqi and so on…
I feel that AZ and PPP highups fully understand who was behind BB’s murder but are scared that opening the Pandora box might end up packing the entire system as many senior military officers who probably are in command today were involved in one way or the other. I think Nawaz Shareef also knows the truth and the reason for him continuously pushing PPP to open this case knowing fully well that it’ll bring Musharraf to the gallows if the truth ever came out.
@Rabia Thanks for posting this very interesting comment.
Here is what the PPP proposes to do:
Basing their conclusions on a report unveiled by a UN inquiry commission, central leaders of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) have held former president Pervez Musharraf responsible for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, as he “failed” to provide the former prime minister the required security cover.
A meeting of the core group of the PPP – which was presided over by Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and attended by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani – was held at the Presidency to discuss the UN report.
Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said that in light of the UN commission report, “there is no doubt” that Musharraf was responsible for Benazir’s murder and would have to face legal proceedings.
Babar said the UN commission’s report had, in fact, endorsed the party’s position that Musharraf wanted to “eliminate her”.
“The PPP has reiterated its resolve to … bring to justice all those, including Musharraf … involved in the criminal act,” he said.
Legal action: Babar said the core committee of the party had asked the prime minister to take appropriate legal action in light of the report – which calls on the authorities to determine criminal responsibility for planning and carrying out the assassination.
Party sources told Daily Times that it had been decided to launch stern administrative and legal action against all government officials who failed to provide security to Benazir. The party also decided to launch departmental action against officials responsible for providing security to Benazir in and around Liaqat Bagh on December 27, 2007.
However, no consensus could be reached on the role of other political personalities mentioned in the UN report, which include Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and Rehman Malik. A final decision may likely be made at the next meeting of the committee.
The sources confirmed that action would be sought against then Punjab home secretary Khusro Pervaiz, then Rawalpindi DCO Irfan Elahi, then Rawalpindi CPO Saud Aziz, then IB director general Brig (r) Ejaz Shah, then federal interior secretary Kamal Shah, Major Imtiaz and others.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik has been asked to put the names of these officials on the ECL, while the establishment secretary has been asked to transfer to the OSD pool all officials nominated in the report.
http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=20104\18\story_18-4-2010_pg1_1
Gibran Peshimam’s piece in The News:
The crowds powered the Bhuttos and the Bhuttos powered the crowds. It was a relationship that manifested a strange political creature called the Jiyala – faithful, blind and dedicated. I am yet to understand what fuels these creatures – because nothing and no one derives as much dedication from any section of our generally apathetic public – least of all a political leader. Political fidelity is not a Pakistani specialty.
It is something I witnessed firsthand when I travelled by road to Garhi Khuda Bux on the first death anniversary of Benazir Bhutto. Hundreds of thousands of supporters, of mourners flocked the Bhutto mausoleum from far and wide. On foot. By car. In buses. In rickshaws. On scooters and motorbikes. Families. Young. Old. All came without any call or arrangements by the leadership of the PPP. All came despite the very real threats of yet another attack.
Just like Benazir did.
You see, what the commission does not understand is that asking Benazir to step away from a crowd at that time was the equivalent of asking the armed forces to drop their weapons in the heat of battle.
On that fateful day of Dec 27, 2007, she raised her head from that sun roof on her own accord, as is testified by Naheed Khan. “Safdar [Abbasi], how about some naras,” Benazir is reported to have said to the man sitting behind her in the Land Cruiser before standing up to wave to the massive and adoring crowd that had encircled her vehicle.
I am inclined to believe that she didn’t have a choice but to stand up. She did it because of her political instinct; because of her populist genetics. She couldn’t help it.
Just like she was warned of the threats upon her return to Pakistan, but return she did anyway. Just like she was warned against joining a rally of supporters upon her return to Pakistan, and just like she refused the offer to be transported by helicopter. Just like she continued her rallies and public appearances despite the twin blasts of Karsaz.
You see, Benazir had returned to a different Pakistan – a post-war-on-terrorism Pakistan. It is a Pakistan in which leaders are required to be smarter and more secure. It is a Pakistan where roads are closed sometimes for hours before a VVIP passes. It is a Pakistan where people are so thoroughly searched that they have just stopped attending public gatherings and addresses. A Pakistan where motorcades zooming by are the only real-life glimpse the masses get of a leader.
It is a country in which a roadside fruit vendor, fearing for lack of income for his already starved family, was beaten mercilessly, and had a motorcycle driven over him a number of times by law-enforcers, because he resisted moving his cart from the road where the Sindh Assembly speaker was to pass.
It is Pakistan the security state.
Leaders are now required to be at a distance from the public – but that just wasn’t Benazir; it wasn’t Z A. There were many reports of how the authorities were left pulling out their hair as Benazir constantly broke security protocols.
Yes, there are still many unanswered questions regarding the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. And we are no closer to figuring out the conspiracy, if there was one, even after the multi-million-dollar commission. I have read the commission report. It only takes me, and, I am sure, many other Pakistanis, back to the confusion and despair that had just begun to fade.
We may never know many things as they transpired on that fateful day – and, for some inexplicable reason, I do not think it is important any longer.
Amidst all the talk of how her security failed to keep her away from her people; her people away from her, there is one thing that I have come to realise.
If today, through some miracle, Benazir came back to life, she would, despite all these now-obvious analyses, stand up through the sunroof of her vehicle yet again.
And again. And again.
The writer is city editor, The News, Karachi. Email: gibran.peshimam @gmail.com
http://thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=234827
Ghazi Salahuddin writes:
According to the Post, the report said “a police investigator deliberately sought to avoid solving the case out of fear of discovering the involvement of Pakistan’s intelligence agencies”. The story carried by The Guardian, London, said: “The damning part of the report is the UN team’s claim of a cover-up. It said it was ‘mystified by the efforts of certain high-ranking Pakistani government authorities to obstruct access to military and intelligence sources'”.
Irrespective of what the UN report contains – and it has some insinuations that would make us shudder with apprehensions about the validity of our democratic process – its release has revived memories of Benazir Bhutto. We are painfully reminded of what a great loss that assassination was. And the thought that it could and should have been prevented is almost unbearable. Naturally, the report’s coverage has accompanied photographs and video footage of Benazir, including that last glimpse of a brilliant and charismatic leader of a country that has suffered so much distress and pain.
We also have to grieve about the inability of the UN report to answer the question of who killed Benazir or even to discover the precise cause of her death. This is how our political killings have been. Our history is punctuated with unsolved and unexplored tragedies. Indeed, Benazir’s own brother was murdered when she was the prime minister.
But the UN report is very significant. It has provided some explanation of why so many of us have no trust in our institutions and why we have a political culture that thrives on conspiracy theories. But where do we go from here? A story by news agency Reuters, datelined Islamabad, has this intro: “Pakistan may be reluctant to thoroughly investigate former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, as called for by a UN report for fear of antagonising its security establishment, analysts said on Friday”.
Let me conclude with the last paragraph of The Guardian story: “The UN commission recommends reform of the police and the intelligence agencies. While every country needs a strong intelligence service, ‘the autonomy, pervasive reach and clandestine role of intelligence agencies in Pakistani life underlie many of the problems, omissions and commissions set out in this report. The actions of politicised intelligence agencies undermine democratic governance'”.
The writer is a staff member. Email: ghazi_salahuddin@hotmail.com
http://thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=234829
It is so easy to lambast Mullah Radio, Rehman Malik, Zardari, or an petty official like CPO Saud Aziz. The UN report serves a purpose. It puts an independent and impartial seal on what Benazir Bhutto and the people of Pakistan already knew and this was no conspiracy theory. Musharraf killed Benazir Bhutto. Musharraf, with the help of his officials, his media supporters, and the CIA tried to put the blame on Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda did not change BB’s exit route from Liaqat Bagh. It was blocked by the police vans. Al Qaeda did not wash the crime scene. It was ordered by the Army Head Quarters. Al Qaeda did not prevent autopsy. An ISI officer was at the hospital directing the whole operation.
There will perhaps never be any real investigation or trial.
http://www.yousufnazar.com/
champion11 said(PKpolitics)
ایسی بات اور ایسا سوال کوئی اور کرتا تو قسم سے تعجب نہ ہوتا کیا آپ کو معلوم نہیں کہ اس ملک میں فوج اور ایجینسیوں کے اندر موجود کالے بھیڑیوں نے کس قدر خوفناک انداز میں پنجے گاڑ رکھے ہیں جنہوں نے پورے سسٹم کو یرغمال بنا رکھا ہے اور جو ان بھیڑیوں کے خلاف کاروائی کے بارے میں خیال بھی اپنے ذھن میں لاۓ گا اس کا حشر بھٹو ، بینظیر، عمر اصغر خان، بگٹی ،مینگل ، شاہنواز ، مرتضیٰ ، جیسا ہو گا اور زرداری صاحب ان کی یہ سب درندگی اپنی آنکھوں سے دیکھ اور اپنی گیارہ سال پر مہیت قید میں اپنے اوپر جھیل چکے تھے اب ایسے خوفناک اور خطرناک گروہ سے کس طرح لڑنا ہے بہت سمجھ ، چالاکی اور احتیاط ، کہ ہر قدم پھونک پھونک کر رکھا جاۓ
یہاں محترم زرداری صاحب نے کمال ہوشیاری دکھائی زرداری صاحب نے ان بھیڑیوں سے نمٹنے کے لئے پہلے اپنے ارد گرد کو مظبوط کیا اور سب سے پہلے یو این او کو درخواستکی کہ وہ اس مقدمے کی تفتیش میں شامل ہوں اور دوسری طرف ان بھیڑیوں کو اور اندرون ملک ایسا تاثر دیا جیسے انہیں اس مقدمے سے کوئی خاص دلچسپی نہیں اور انھیں بلکل بے فکر کر دیا تا کہ وہ انہیں یا ان کے قریبی ساتھیوں کو کوئی نقصان نہ پہنچائیں اور اب اس رپورٹ کے بعد زرداری صاحب اخلاقی طور پر کافی اچھی اور مظبوط پوزیشن میں آ گے ہیں اور اب یہ کالے بھیڑیے کافی حد تک دفاعی پوزیشن پر چلے گے ہیں اور اب زرداری صاحب ان پر قانون کا ہاتھ ڈال سکتے ہیں اور ان کالے بھیڑیوں کو بچانے کے لئے باہر سے یا ملک کے اندر سے کھلی حمایت کے ساتھ سامنے آنا بہت مشکل ہو گا
Comment by Kaleem Butt (via email):
In what / which way wrap it, U.N. Report is clear indictment of military / intelligence establishment of Pakistan. That is what this report says in not so many words.
The link below is for an article posted in TIME Mobile. In the article blame is placed squarely where it is due.
http://criticalppp.com/archives/9633
Shaheen Sehbai barking as expected to divert attention from his masters in the ISI:
Wanted scapegoats after $1.5m a page report
Sunday, April 18, 2010
By By Shaheen Sehbai
WASHINGTON: Costing Pakistan almost 1.5 million dollars a page, the UN report on Benazir’s murder has not moved the case even an inch in any direction but it has well served the purpose of PPP rulers, and killers of BB alike, for the moment.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=234813
How could Haroon-ur-Rasheed lag behind in defending his masters in the ISI?
اقوام متحدہ کی رپورٹ سے محترمہ بے نظیربھٹوکے قتل کا راز نہ کھل سکا۔انہیں یہ فرض سونپا ہی نہ گیا تھا۔وقت گزاری کا ایک بہانہ تھا۔قاتلوں کی تلاش مقصود ہوتی تو اقوام متحدہ کی نہیں فقط ایک دیانتدار اور سوجھ بوجھ رکھنے والے تھانیدار کی ضرورت تھی۔عالمی ادارے کی رپورٹ کوئی بڑا انکشاف نہیں کرتی۔بیشتر نکات پہلے ہی پاکستانی اخبارات میں چھپ چکے۔جو سوالات انہوں نے اٹھائے ہوئے ہیں ان میں سے اکثر پر پاکستانی دانشور ماہرین قانون اور سیاسی کارکن سوا دوسال سے بحث کرتے آئے ہیں۔مطلوب اور مقصود تھا ہی یہی کہ کوڑے کرکٹ کو قالین کے نیچے دھکیل دیاجائے۔دونوں نے مگر بھلادیا مصلحتوں کے مارے اکثر بھلا دیتے ہیں کہ خون کوڑا نہیں ہوتا وہ دہائی دیتا اور بولتا رہتا ہے جواب طلب کرتا اور فریاد کیاکرتا ہے۔ آصف علی زرداری کی حکومت قاتلوں کی تلاش میں سنجیدہ ہوتی تو پہلے دی نیوز کے خبر نگار شکیل انجم کی رپورٹیں کافی ہو جاتیں۔جائے حادثہ پر وہ موجود تھے اور پیہم دوبرس تک وہ سچائی کی تلاش میں رہے۔کوئی حقیقت حال جاننے کا آرزومند ہوتو ان کی کتاب “Who Murderd Benazir Bhutto”کا مطالعہ کریں۔ سرورق سے لے کر آخری صفحے تک وہ اشارے اور کردار جلوہ گر ہیں کہ سوالات مرتب کرلئے جائیں تو چار چھ ہفتوں میں قاتل جسٹس افتخارمحمدچوہدری کی عدالت میں کھڑے ہوں گے۔ اگر وہ اقرار نہ کریں گے تو شواہد بولیں گے ان کی بدن بولی بتا دے گی۔قاتلوں کی تلاش تو مگر مقصود ہی نہیں۔صرف بے نظیربھٹو نہیں کسی بھی پاکستانی لیڈر یا خود پاکستانی عوام کے کسی قاتل کی بھی نہیں۔حکمران طبقے کا فیصلہ یہ ہے کہ وہ سچ کا سامنا کبھی نہ کرے گا۔اس لئے کہ اگر ایک بارآغاز ہوگیا تو اس کی بادشاہی باقی نہ رہے گی کہ کذب اور دھوکہ دہی پر استوار ہے۔مشرف ایسے مسخرے اور آصف علی زرداری ایسے ”مردِ حر“ کا تو ذکر ہی کیا کہ ان کے مشیروں سے ان کے ذوق اور ترجیحات کا اندازہ ہے
http://search.jang.com.pk/details.asp?nid=425666
بی بی کی فوری سکیورٹی کے ذمہ دار ایس پی خرم شہزاد نے ایس ایس پی سعود عزیز کے حکم پر اور سعود عزیز نے ملٹری انٹیلی جینس کے سربراہ میجرجنرل ندیم اعجاز کے حکم پر جائے حادثہ ایک گھنٹے چالیس منٹ بعد دھلوا دی۔
بے نظیر بھٹو کا جسد راولپنڈی جنرل ہسپتال میں پانچ گھنٹے پڑا رہا ۔چیف سرجن ڈاکٹر مصدق کی جانب سے ایس ایس پی سعود عزیز سے تین مرتبہ پوسٹ مارٹم کی اجازت کی درخواست اور اسپتال میں آئی ایس آئی کے کرنل جہانگیر اختر کی موجودگی اور آئی ایس آئی کے میجرجنرل نصرت عظیم سے کرنل جہانگیر کے ٹیلی فونک رابطے کے باوجود بے نظیر بھٹو کا پوسٹ مارٹم نہیں ہوسکا۔
ستائیس دسمبر کو بے نظیر بھٹو سے سیاسی ڈیل کرنے والے جنرل پرویز مشرف پاکستان کے صدر تھے۔ یہ سیاسی ڈیل کروانے والے آئی ایس آئی کے سابق سربراہ جنرل اشفاق پرویز کیانی چیف آف آرمی سٹاف تھے۔انکی جگہ مشرف کے قریبی معتمد میجر جنرل ندیم تاج آئی ایس آئی کے سربراہ تھے۔ پنجاب کے وزیرِ اعلی چوہدری پرویز الہی تھے جن کی جماعت این آر او کے خلاف نہیں تھی لیکن تیسری مرتبہ وزیرِ اعظم بننے پر پابندی کے قانون کو ختم کرنے کے خلاف تھی۔تاکہ چوہدری پرویز الہی کے وزیرِ اعظم بننے کی راہ ہموار رہ سکے
حکومتِ پاکستان کی جانب سے رپورٹ کو فوری طور پر منظرِ عام پر نہ لانے کی متعدد درخواستوں کے باوجود اقوامِ متحدہ نے اس رپورٹ کا گز میدان میں رکھ دیا ہے۔اب دو ہی راستے ہیں۔یا تو حکومت اس گز سے بارودی سرنگوں سے اٹا ہوا میدان ناپ لے یا پھر گردن نپوا لے۔
یا ناپ لو یا پھر نپوا لو
وسعت اللہ خان
بی بی سی اردو ڈاٹ کام، اسلام آباد
http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/columns/2010/04/100418_baat_se_baat.shtml
وفاقی وزیر اطلاعات قمر الزمان کائرہ کے بقول رپورٹ میں غفلت برتنے والے پولیس اور ضلعی انتظامیہ کے افسران کو ’ افسر بکارِ خاص‘ بنا دیا گیا ہے۔ اگر ایسا ہے تو اچھی بات ہے کہ ان سے جانچ ہونی چاہیے۔
لیکن سوال یہ ہے کہ اگر اقوام متحدہ کی رپورٹ کی بنا پر پولیس افسران کو معطل کیا گیا ہے تو پھر حاضر سروس فوجی افسران کو معطل کرنے اور ان کے خلاف کارروائی میں تاخیر کیوں ہو رہی ہے؟
اس بارے میں ایک ذمہ دار حکومتی شخص کا کہنا ہے کہ بعض فوجی افسران کے خلاف کارروائی کے لیے وزیراعظم سید یوسف رضا گیلانی جلد آرمی چیف جنرل اشفاق پرویز کیانی سے بات کریں گے۔ انہوں نے ’بعض فوجی افسران‘ کے نام تو نہیں بتائے لیکن ظاہر ہے کہ وہ افسر وہی ہیں جن کے نام کمیشن نے اپنی رپورٹ میں لیے ہیں۔
تحقیقاتی کمیشن کے مطابق پاکستانی حکومت کا کام ہے کہ وہ بینظیر بھٹو کے قتل کے ذمہ واران اور منصوبہ سازوں کو کیفر کردار تک پہنچائے
جن حاضر سروس فوجی افسران کا رپورٹ میں ذکر ہے ان میں سرفہرست آئی ایس آئی کے سابقِ سربراہ لیفٹینٹ جنرل ندیم تاج، جو آج کل گجرانوالا کے کور کمانڈر ہیں، سابق سربراہ ملٹری انٹیلی جنس میجر جنرل ندیم اعجاز جو کچھ وقت پہلے تک بہاولپور میں تعینات رہے، وہ پرویز مشرف کی اہلیہ کے قریبی عزیز بھی ہیں۔ آئی ایس آئی کے سابق ڈپٹی ڈائریکٹر جنرل میجر جنرل نصرت نعیم جو آج کل کراچی میں تعینات ہیں۔ کرنل جہانگیر اختر راولپنڈی میں آئی ایس آئی کے ڈیٹیچمنٹ کمانڈر تھے۔
سابق فوجی افسران میں جنرل (ر) پرویز مشرف، لیفٹینٹ جنرل (ر) حمید گل، بریگیڈیئر (ر) اعجاز شاہ اور میجر (ر) امتیاز وغیرہ شامل ہیں۔ رپورٹ میں مجموعی طور پر پرویز مشرف کی طرف اشارہ کیا گیا ہے کہ انہوں نے مطلوبہ سکیورٹی بینطیر بھٹو کو فراہم نہیں کی۔
مزید یہ کہ جو سکیورٹی سابقِ وزیراعظم کے طور پر شوکت عزیز اور چوہدری شجاعت حسین کو دی گئی تھی اس طرح کی سکیورٹی بینظیر بھٹو کی نہیں دی گئی اور اگر سیکورٹی کے انتظامات بہتر ہوتے تو بینظیر بھٹو بچ سکتی تھیں۔
اس مشورے کے بعد بقول پیپلز پارٹی کے کہ بینظیر نے اپنے بعض ساتھیوں سے کہا تھا کہ ’مجھے پتہ تھا کہ جنرل خوفزدہ کرنے آئے ہیں لیکن میں جلسہ ضرور کروں گی‘۔ اس بارے میں پیپلز پارٹی کے بعض سرکردہ رہنما یہ کہتے رہے ہیں کہ جنرل تاج کا مشورہ ’دھمکی آمیز‘ تھا۔
لیفٹینٹ جنرل ندیم تاج جنہیں پرویز مشرف نے خصوصی طور پر قبل از وقت ترقی دے کر پہلے میجر جنرل اور بعد میں لیفٹینٹ جنرل بنا کر آئی ایس آئی کا سربراہ تعینات کیا، ان کے بارے میں رپورٹ میں کہا گیا ہے کہ وہ بینظیر کے قتل سے قبل ان سے ملے اور انہیں خطرے کے باعث راولپنڈی کا جلسہ نہ کرنے کا مشورہ دیا۔
اس مشورے کے بعد بقول پیپلز پارٹی کے کہ بینظیر نے اپنے بعض ساتھیوں سے کہا تھا کہ ’مجھے پتہ تھا کہ جنرل خوفزدہ کرنے آئے ہیں لیکن میں جلسہ ضرور کروں گی‘۔ اس بارے میں پیپلز پارٹی کے بعض سرکردہ رہنما یہ کہتے رہے ہیں کہ جنرل تاج کا مشورہ ’دھمکی آمیز‘ تھا۔
بعض فوجی افسران کے خلاف کارروائی کے لیے وزیراعظم سید یوسف رضا گیلانی جلد آرمی چیف جنرل اشفاق پرویز کیانی سے بات کریں گے: حکومتی ذرائع
لیکن رپورٹ میں آئی ایس آئی کی جانب سے متوازی تحقیقات شروع کرنے پر اعتراض کرتے ہوئے کہا گیا ہے کہ ’کریمنل انویسٹی گیشن‘ انٹیلی جنس ایجنسیوں کے دائرہ کار میں نہیں آتی۔ اس کے باوجود بھی آئی ایس آئی نے ایسا کیوں کیا؟
شواہد کی چھان بین اور اس میں مداخلت کے حوالے سے بھی آئی ایس آئی کے اختیار اور دلچسپی کے نکات کو بھی وضح کیا گیا ہے۔ رپورٹ کے مطابق پرویز مشرف کی ہدایت پر آئی ایس آئی نے بریگیڈئیر (ر) جاوید اقبال چیمہ سے پریس کانفرنس کروائی اور اس میں الزام بیت اللہ محسود پر عائد کیا گیا۔ اس سارے عمل کے دوران آئی ایس آئی کے سربراہ جنرل ندیم تاج تھے۔ انہوں نے بینظیر بھٹو قتل کی جانچ اقوام متحدہ سے کرانےکی بھی مخالفت کی تھی اور بعد میں ان کا تبادلہ ہوگیا تھا
http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/2010/04/100419_bb_report_gov_challenge.shtml
continued from the above link:
جیسا کہ اقوام متحدہ سے جانچ کرانے کا فیصلہ متفقہ طور پر چاروں صوبائی اسمبلیوں اور پارلیمان سے منظور کردہ قراردادوں کے بعد ہوا تھا۔ اس لیے حکومت پر لازم ہے کہ اقوام متحدہ کی رپورٹ پارلیمان میں پیش کرکے مشتبہ کرداروں سے پوچھ گچھ کرنی چاہیے۔
ویسے بھی اٹھارویں ترمیم کی منظوری کے بعد کہا جا رہا ہے کہ پارلیمان با اختیار اور بالادست ہوگئی ہے تو انہیں اپنے بااختیار ہونے کے لیے ’لٹمس ٹیسٹ‘ کے طور پر بینظیر بھٹو کے قتل کا معاملہ لینا چاہیے۔ اگر ترکی میں حکومت کے خلاف سازش کے الزام میں حاضر سروس فوجی گرفتار ہوسکتے ہیں تو کیا سابق وزیراعظم کے قتل میں اگر کوئی فوجی ملوث ہیں تو کیا ان کے خلاف کارروائی کیوں نہیں ہوسکتی؟
بعض تجزیہ کار کہتے ہیں کہ حکومت کو اٹھارہویں ترمیم جیسا اتفاق رائے بینظیر بھٹو کے قاتلوں کو کٹہرے میں لانے کے لیے بھی پیدا کرنا ہوگا ورنہ کل کسی اور کی باری آسکتی ہے!
Terrorism has made the people of Pakistan immune to violence till some extent. This comes as a tragedy to the nation. We still have time if the silent majority can raise their voice and make some decisions where we throw out these extremism elements from our society that result to killing of many.
U.N Commision report seems to me a compiled form of pakistani and international news prints.The entire team was not compitant to cunduct such organized type of killing by insiders very well known to asif zardari.rehman malik and baber awan.The socalled commission has tried to whitewash the black spots from the wall. I feel sorry for BANKI MOON and his advisors to allow a commission to spray dust of compromised report on the face of humanity.It was total waste of funds and diversion of facts .Pakistanis have become victum of dubble agents like REHMAN MALIK AND BABER AWAN,
The ISI in action:
‘Malik, Awan involved in Benazir’s assassination’
Wednesday, 21 Apr, 2010
ISLAMABAD: Terming Benazir Bhutto’s death as murder, the Legal advisor to Benazir’s chief protocol officer has alleged that the present Interior Minister Rehman Malik and current Law Minister Babar Awan were involved in Benazir’s assassination.
However, he said that as the case is sub judice before the Lahore High court Rawalpindi bench for lodging second FIR in the case, “so we are not going to elaborate on every aspect of this case.”
Speaking to the media in Islamabad, Asad Rajput alleged that the UN has established the fact that former president Musharraf was head of the entire assasination plot.
He maintained that the ex-chief minister of Punjab Pervaiz Elahi, Rehman Malik, Babar Awan, the head of the Intelligence Bureau, the FIA and the Rawalpindi police were all clearly involved in Benazir Bhutto’s murder.
Aslam Chaudhry who is the chief protocol officer of Benazir alleged that both Rehman Malik and Babar Awan broke protocol and also sabotaged security during Benazir’s rally at Liaquat Park in which she was assassinated.
Chaudhry stressed that it is obligatory for the government to initiate a crminial investigation into Benazir’s assassination following the UN report. -DawnNews
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/06-malik-awan-involved-in-benazirs-assassination-rs-01
The Nation Misrepresents UN Report, Government’s Response
April 21st, 2010
The Nation’s editorial from Monday severely misrepresents findings of the UN Report, raising serious questions about whether the editorial’s authors actually read the report. Actually, The Nation’s editorial even contradicts itself as to the government’s response.
The editorial, “The Benazir murder,” accuses the government of ignoring the reports findings in order to protect the guilty. A quick review of the UN report and recent news reports about the government’s response – including statements from within the same editorial – directly contradict The Nation’s assertion.
The Nation’s editorial says that the UN Report “has pointed the finger at the murdered leaders’ own party.” This is misleading to the point of being intentionally so. of the UN report says,
The “Main Findings” on Page 60, paragraph 259.iii say,
Responsibility for Ms Bhutto’s security on the day of her assassination rested with the federal Government, the government of Punjab and the Rawalpindi District Police. None of these entities took necessary measures to respond to the extraordinary, fresh and urgent security risks that they knew she faced.
While the UN report on does acknowledge that PPP attempted to provide some security for Benazir Bhutto, page 19, paragraph 63 absolves PPP of any responsibility for her assassination.
The PPP is a political party, not a security agency. The responsibility for Ms Bhutto’s security rested with the government.
Even the headlines from The Nation read “UN probe finds Musharraf govt responsible“. The Nation’s attempt to pin the blame for Benazir Bhutto’s murder on the PPP may be wishful thinking, but it is not supported either by the UN report or even The Nation’s own headlines!
After falsely asserting that the UN report holds the PPP responsible for Benazir’s murder, The Nation goes on to accuse the present government of failing to act on the reports findings. This is also not supported by recent events, including those reported in The Nation.
The editorial makes a potentially libelous accusation that “The PPP may have developed a culture of protecting the guilty…”, and then goes on to say that “…the government must not treat the murder as an internal party matter, as it seems to be doing, but as the national matter that it is.”
But the first paragraph of the same editorial says that the government has acted on the report and is not treating it as an internal party matter.
THE PPP has been apprised of the UN report into the murder of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, and its report has been the subject of a high-level PPP meeting on Saturday at the Presidency, chaired by her widower, the President, and the Prime Minister as well as some members of his Cabinet. The meeting decided to take action against those responsible, including former President Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf. The meeting decided that those mentioned in the report would be placed on the Exit Control List. Also, they would be made part of the investigations.
The Nation says this is “inadequate”, despite the fact that this is exactly what The Nation says the government should do.
“…it must ensure that those pinpointed as having some complicity in the murder, should be brought to justice.”
Actually, PPP has publicly vowed to go after anyone complicit in the murder.
Babar added that the report will be examined by legal experts of the Party to recommend to the Co-Chairman necessary steps to be taken in its light. Persons named in the report for negligence or complicity in the conspiracy will be investigated and cases also brought against them in the light of the legal opinion, he said.
News reports from today confirm that the police have registered a case against Musharraf, who actually is fingered as complicit in the murder.
The editorial writers at The Nation were surely surprised and disappointed to read the conclusions of the UN’s investigation. That they continue to publish wishful journalism instead of actual facts is disappointing. If The Nation honestly wanted to see the perpetrators and facilitators of Benazir Bhutto’s murder brought to justice, they would report the facts. Instead, they seem to be more interested in using their newspaper to publish misleading political propaganda. Shame on them.
http://pakistanmediawatch.com/2010/04/21/the-nation-misrepresents-un-report-governments-response/
Ex-MI chief washes hands of hosing
By Iftikhar A. Khan and Mohammad Asghar
Thursday, 29 Apr, 2010
According to sources, an SIG team interviewed SP Ishtiaq Hussain Shah, who was DSP of Rawalpindi city when the incident took place, for answers to questions about security measures. The SIG team was headed by Deputy Director Khalid Qureshi. – File Photo.
PAKISTAN
Govt decides to set-up JIT on Benazir’s murder
Govt decides to set-up JIT on Benazir’s murder
ISLAMABAD: Maj-Gen Nadeem Ijaz, a former director-general of the Military Intelligence, has rejected as baseless insinuations that he had ordered the hosing down of the site of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination on Dec 27, 2007.
According to sources, the ex-MI chief submitted on Wednesday a detailed statement, along with some documents, to the three-member committee investigating the washing down of the crime scene.
The sources said the police officials who had recorded their statements on Tuesday had almost repeated what they had been quoted as saying in the UN fact-finding commission’s report. “None of them said they had received orders from the Military Intelligence chief, but described it as a crowd management and public order measure taken after collection of necessary evidence material from the site,” they said.
According to sources, the United Nations Commission had not said in its report that any police officer had held Maj-Gen Ijaz responsible for ordering hosing down of the scene.
It had cited some unnamed sources, including from the police, as claiming that they had been told by the then CPO of Rawalpindi, Saud Aziz, that he had implemented instructions received from the MI chief.
The report said actions taken by Rawalpindi district police and omissions in the immediate aftermath of the assassination, including the washing down of the crime scene and failure to collect and preserve evidence, had compromised the investigation.
The investigation into the killings of Ms Bhutto and those who had died with her lacked direction, was ineffective and suffered from a lack of commitment to identify and bring all perpetrators to justice, it said.
The UN document said the investigation had been severely hampered by intelligence agencies and government officials, which impeded an unfettered search for the truth. More significantly, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) conducted parallel investigations, gathering evidence and detaining suspects. Evidence gathered from such parallel investigations was selectively shared with the police.
FIA PROBE:
The Special Investigation Group of the FIA, which has been asked to fix criminal responsibility in the murder case, questioned on Wednesday the then city police chief Saud Aziz, SSP (Operations) Yaseen Farooq, SP Khuram Shahzad and three deputy superintendents of police.
According to sources, an SIG team interviewed SP Ishtiaq Hussain Shah, who was DSP of Rawalpindi city when the incident took place, for answers to questions about security measures. The SIG team was headed by Deputy Director Khalid Qureshi.
The police official said he was on duty on the Liaquat Road when the explosion took place and he found himself on a hospital bed when he regained consciousness.
He said it had been decided that no exit gate of Liaquat Bagh would be opened before Ms Bhutto left the venue, but he did not know on whose orders and why the gates had been opened.
Rana Shahid, who was the DSP of the Cantonment Circle, said he had been assigned the task to collect important evidence from the scene. He said he had found a pistol, a mask and pellets.
Another DSP, Sultan Chaddar, was also interviewed.
The SIG team had also summoned the deputy divisional warden of the civil defence department, Walaiat Satti, considering him as the official in charge of the Bomb Disposal Squad. But he informed the team that he was only a volunteer and had nothing to do with bomb disposal.
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/12-former+dg+mi+records+his+statement–bi-05
Editorial: An end to impunity?
This is just not panning out to be Musharraf’s week.
In fresh charges against the former dictator, property gifted by the then Indonesian President Soekarno, in the shape of the Chancery building in Jakarta, was sold for a measly amount on Musharraf’s directives. It hardly comes as a surprise that the man carrying out the sale was a retired Major General himself, Mustafa Anwar Hussain, the then Pakistani ambassador to Indonesia. Allegedly receiving massive kickbacks — in the form of commission — for the building’s sale, Mr Hussain is reported to have dismissed the Foreign Affairs Ministry’s repeated advice to wait for an inter-ministerial committee to finalise the deal. The glaring fact remains: state owned property was wrongfully sold off in a completely non-transparent and unaccountable way.
There are many such legacies that are coming back to haunt General (r) Pervez Musharraf. In the aftermath of the UN report on Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, a whole slew of allegations and pervasive actions have been seen taking place. The government is now devising ways by which to haul in Musharraf, whose leadership is charged with direct involvement in the assassination because of providing inadequate security and then allegedly attempting a cover up.
A petition seeking the registration of an FIR against Musharraf has been admitted by the Lahore High Court for the July 17, 2007 bombing on a PPP and lawyers’ gathering for Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in Islamabad. The British government has also withdrawn some of its security cover, reversing the protocol provided till now to the former president, who is now comfortably residing in London. Scotland Yard does not seem to take too kindly to protecting men named by the UN as having blood on their hands.
Musharraf’s friends do not seem to be faring too well either as, for the first time in the country’s history, a former MI chief is being investigated. Major General Nadeem Ijaz was to appear on Wednesday before a fact-finding committee to answer allegations about his reported role in the hosing down of the Benazir Bhutto crime scene.
Although the allegations themselves are not surprising, what is unprecedented is the fact that Pakistan’s political culture seems to be undergoing a fervent rewriting, where questions demand answers and accusations demand a defence, at the very least. The accountability required from a former dictator to clear his much-sullied name is a first for this nation. Such a demand for answerability suggests that long-held fears that the institutions to which these dictators belonged would become displeased if anyone dared question a previous army chief seem to have gone up in smoke. We must welcome the sacred cows of the military and judiciary to a new world, as their internal mechanisms of accountability are perceived now as inadequate. These clean-sweep actions against Musharraf and those associated with him are an indicator that Pakistan’s wretched culture of impunity may have one foot in the grave and ought to serve as a warning to future adventurers and endorsers that overthrowing the government, and subsequent actions, do not come without risk.
Such a tectonic shift in policy, where former rulers are held liable instead of being protected and where speedy action occurs to bring perpetrators to book — no matter who they are — may prove to be a salute to a new, more enlightened polity. *
http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=20104\29\story_29-4-2010_pg3_1
The report of U.N Commission was well advertised , and we were looking forward to some clues and conclusive evidence dug out by the commission. But the report instead talked about peripheral matters , and did not touch upon what it was set for to find some sese to this high prot\file murder case.
It did say the government failed to provide adequate security Be- nazir. She had received threats fromdifferent terrorist group for her put spoken criticism of taliban as well. She was on the hit list of these out hits. She had asked the federal government to provide her security once she was back in Pakistan. May 12 culprits were never apprehended snd she remained the yarget of these grouogroups.
noconcrete evidence has been unearthed by this report.
i think it was futile exercise and waste of time and money. they spent lot of time interviewing Pakistani officials, but could not establish the involvement of any body tt thys grue sone tragedy. I think we should go eith the internay probe by the law enfrcing agencies to work on this case
It was indeed a tragedy and the polar politicl leader was assassinated. We must try our best to solve this case.
JAVAID BASIR
attirney at law
Lahore