BB’s death, Probe team & “facts and circumstances”

Column by: Ashfaq rehmani

Email: pasrurmedia@hotmail.com

An advance team of the UN commission to probe into Benazir Bhutto’s assassination

arrived here on Thursday. The United Nations commission will start its formal inquiry
into the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto from Thursday.
Bhutto, a charismatic and controversial politician who served twice as prime minister,
was killed in a shooting and bomb attack as she left a political rally in Rawalpindi in
December 2007, two months after she returned from exile to contest the country's
national elections. The members of the team Boon rod Tanarak, Pitak Isan and R.
Pothathong were received at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport by senior officials
of interior ministry and the Foreign Office. Senior members of the inquiry commission,
Chile’s permanent representative to the UN Heraldo Munoz, Marzuki Darusman and
Peter Fitzgerald, are among team. According to source, the members of the commission
were expected to be in the country until July 19. Talking to the BBC on Wednesday,
Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said the commission would arrive in Islamabad on
Thursday while a technical team had already visited Pakistan. It has been learnt that one
member of the commission has already arrived while two members will reach today. But
no official confirmation has been made in this connection. However, the spokesman did
not divulge the details regarding the working of the probe team. The commission is
headed by Chile’s ambassador to UN Heraldo Munoz. The other two members are:
former Indonesian attorney general Marzuki Darusman and former senior Irish police
officer Peter Fitzgerald.

The inquiry will last six months and investigate the “facts and circumstances” of Benazir
Bhutto’s death who was killed as she had left a rally of Pakistan People’s Party supporters
in Rawalpindi in December 2007. According to sources, the UN Commission after
completing its investigation within six months would send report to UN Secretary
General Ban Ki-Moon and the UN to share that report with the Pakistani government.
Bhutto, the first woman to become prime minister of a Muslim country, was killed in late
December 2007 in a gun and suicide attack after addressing an election rally in
Rawalpindi. The three-member UN panel has a six-month mandate from July 1, but faces
scepticism that its inquiry will lead to convictions by Pakistani authorities.
Headed by the Chilean ambassador to the United Nations, Heraldo Munoz, it includes an
Indonesian ex-attorney general and an Irish former police official.
During the visit, they are scheduled to meet President Asif Ali Zardari and other senior
officials. Supported by experienced staff based in Pakistan, the commission will submit a
report to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon by end-December. The report will be
shared with the Pakistani government and the UN Security Council. The United Nations
says the panel will inquire into the facts and circumstances of the assassination, but
stresses that any criminal investigation is Pakistan's responsibility. ‘The staff, working
under direction of the commissioners, will gather information, collate relevant material
and conduct interviews,’ said a UN statement released on Thursday.
The Zardari government called for a UN inquiry after the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)
won a general election two months after her death, with her supporters angered by
conflicting accounts of how she died and who was responsible.
They cast doubt on a Pakistani probe into her death, criticized authorities for hosing
down the scene of the attack within minutes allegedly destroying evidence and
questioning whether she was killed by a gunshot or the blast.
Then President Pervez Musharraf and the US Central Intelligence Agency blamed
Baitullah Mehsud, an Al-Qaeda-linked warlord based in Pakistan's tribal region for
masterminding the killing. Bhutto, the first of whose two stints as prime minister began in
1988, wrote in her autobiography of warnings that four suicide squads — including one
sent by Mehsud and another by a son of Osama bin Laden were after her.
She also repeatedly accused a cabal of senior Pakistani intelligence and government
officials of plotting to kill her, notably in an attack that killed 139 people in Karachi on
October 18, 2007 when she returned from exile.

According to media source, Mr. Mark Quarter man, the chief of staff of the Benazir
Bhutto Commission, had informed Pakistani representative about the UN officials’
meeting with the representatives of donor countries regarding generation of funds for the
Commission. Germany, Japan, Turkey, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait and Saudi
Arabia had been identified by the government of Pakistan as the donor countries. The
source said the UN officials had held a meeting with the representatives of the donor
countries as they all were invited to ensure the provision of funds but no one from Kuwait
and United Arab Emirates participated in the meeting while Saudi Arabia apologized for
the participation.
The source said, Pakistani representative informed the foreign office in Islamabad that no
one among those, who attended the meeting had made any promise regarding the
provision of funds. Contrary to the previous stance, the UN would request the donors for
early provision of financial contributions so that the commission of Benazir Bhutto could
start its probe, the source said. The UN had prepared estimates of US $4 million and
asked the government of Pakistan to ensure the early release of funds, promised by the
donor countries. Six members, UN advance technical assessment team headed by Mark
Quarter man had already visited Pakistan in April and had held talks with interior advisor
Rehman Malik. The UN advance team had reviewed the security of the UN Investigation
commission who is to start probe into the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir
Bhutto. Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in a gun-and-bomb attack after a public rally
outside Liaquat Bagh Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007. The Pakistani government had
requested the United Nations to establish a commission to probe into the assassination of
Benazir Bhutto.
Dear Reader,s Bhutto was well aware of the risk to her own life that might result from her
return from exile to campaign for the leadership position. In an interview on September
28, 2007, with reporter Wolf Blitzer of CNN, she readily admitted the possibility of
attack on herself. After eight years in exile in Dubai and London, Bhutto returned to
Karachi on 18 October 2007, to prepare for the 2008 national elections. En route to a
rally in Karachi on 18 October 2007, two explosions occurred shortly after Bhutto had
landed and left Jinnah International Airport. She was not injured but the explosions, later
found to be a suicide-bomb attack, killed 136 people and injured at least 450. The dead
included at least 50 of the security guards from her PPP who had formed a human chain
around her truck to keep potential bombers away, as well as six police officers. A number
of senior officials were injured. Bhutto, after nearly ten hours of the parade through
Karachi, ducked back down into the steel command center to remove her sandals from
her swollen feet, moments before the bomb went off. She was escorted unharmed from
the scene. Bhutto later claimed that she had warned the Pakistani government that suicide
bomb squads would target her upon her return to Pakistan and that the government had
failed to act. She was careful not to blame Pervez Musharraf for the attacks, accusing
instead "certain individuals within the government who abuse their positions, who abuse
their powers" to advance the cause of Islamic militants. Shortly after the attempt on her
life, Bhutto wrote a letter to Musharraf naming four persons whom she suspected of
carrying out the attack. Those named included Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, a rival PML-Q
politician and chief minister of Pakistan's Punjab province, Hamid Gul, former director of
the Inter-Services Intelligence, and Ijaz Shah, the director general of the Intelligence
Bureau, another of the country's intelligence agencies. All those named are close
associates of General Musharraf. Bhutto has a long history of accusing parts of the
government, particularly Pakistan's premier military intelligence agencies, of working
against her and her party because they oppose her liberal, secular agenda. Bhutto claimed
that the ISI has for decades backed militant Islamic groups in Kashmir and in
Afghanistan. She was protected by her vehicle and a "human cordon" of supporters who
had anticipated suicide attacks and formed a chain around her to prevent potential
bombers from getting near her.
On 27 December 2007 (one day after boxing day, 3rd anniversary after 2004 Indian
Ocean earthquake), Bhutto was killed while leaving a campaign rally for the PPP at
Liaquat National Bagh, where she had given a spirited address to party supporters in the
run-up to the January 2008 parliamentary elections. After entering her bulletproof
vehicle, Bhutto stood up through its sunroof to wave to the crowds. At this point, a
gunman fired shots at her and subsequently explosives were detonated near the vehicle
killing approximately 20 people. Bhutto was critically wounded and was rushed to
Rawalpindi General Hospital. She was taken into surgery at 17:35 local time, and
pronounced dead at 18:16
After the assassination, there were initially a number of riots resulting in approximately
20 deaths, of which three were of police officers. Around 250 cars were burnt; angry and
upset supporters of Bhutto threw rocks outside the hospital where she was being held.
Through December 29, 2007, the Pakistani government said rioters had wrecked nine
election offices, 176 banks, 34 gas stations, 72 train cars, 18 rail stations, and hundreds of
cars and shops. Nawaz Sharif, the leader of the rival opposition party Pakistan Muslim
League (N), stated that "This is a tragedy for her party, and a tragedy for our party and the
entire nation." President Musharraf decreed a three-day period of mourning. The
international reaction to Bhutto's assassination was of strong condemnation across the
international community. The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting and
unanimously condemned the assassination. Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa
stated that, "We condemn this assassination and terrorist act, and pray for God Almighty
to bless her soul." India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he was "deeply shocked
and horrified to hear of the heinous assassination of Mrs. Benazir Bhutto. ... My heartfelt
condolences go to her family and the people of Pakistan who have suffered a grievous
blow." British Prime Minister Gordon Brown stated, "Benazir Bhutto may have been
killed by terrorists but the terrorists must not be allowed to kill democracy in Pakistan
and this atrocity strengthens our resolve that terrorists will not win there, here or
anywhere in the world." European Commission President José Manuel Barroso
condemned the assassination as "an attack against democracy and against Pakistan," and
"hopes that Pakistan will remain firmly on track for return to democratic civilian rule."
US Ex-President George W. Bush condemned the assassination as a "cowardly act by
murderous extremists," and encouraged Pakistan to "honor Benazir Bhutto's memory by
continuing with the democratic process for which she so bravely gave her life." Vatican
Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone expressed the sadness of Pope Benedict XVI, saying
that "the Holy Father expresses sentiments of deep sympathy and spiritual closeness to
the members of her family and to the entire Pakistani nation." Chinese Foreign Ministry
spokesperson Qin Gang said that China was "shocked at the killing of Pakistan's
opposition leader Benazir Bhutto" and "strongly condemns the terrorist attack.