When Liaquat Ali Khan was murdered, his successor was Khawaja Nazim Uddin. In effect, since Nazim Uddinsucceded him, he must have been behind that horrific act. General Zia along with a few other Generals were killed in a fatal crash near Bahawalpur. As a consequence of that plane crash, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto was elected as the first female Prime Minister in the Muslim world. Since she was the beneficiary of that crash, she must have been involved in the downing of that plane. In India, Rajiv Gandhi must have conspired to have his mother, Indira Gandhi killed by her bodyguards, so he could get himself elected as her successor.
If all the above listed historical events and their presumed conspiracies, have been quite offensive, and a direct challenge to your intelligence, then kindly accept my profound apologies. Whether you surf through the social media, or end up in a private gathering, any time Benazir Bhutto’s tragic murder is discussed, a similar logic is presented. Who benefited from her murder, her husband Asif Ali Zardari. Case solved.This is the predominant narrative. More power to our propaganda machines as they go on and on, peddling this narrative. So, potent is this, that people say it with utmost conviction, without giving it a second thought.
The Commando, who was the self-appointed President at that time, has leveled some categorical allegations, implicating Mr. Zardari not only in his wife’s murder but also in the equally tragic murder of her brother, Mir Murtaza Bhutto. Lest we forget, there was a deal between Late Benazir and Musharraf; which according to Senator Rehman Malik, privy to its details, was all verbal. Musharraf’s rule was waning and his approval rating was in the tanks, towards the tail end of his term. Benazir made her entry in Pakistan, ahead of schedule in October 2007. Musharraf was very upset with this deviation and had threatened her by reneging on his end of the bargain.
Till this day, Musharraf has been under intense criticism, for not providing adequate security befitting a former PM, to the slain leader. He has been deflecting this criticism, by turning around and using the logic that I have just illustrated. The person who benefited the most from her assassination was her husband and hence he should be blamed for her demise. Of course, I am no investigative journo, nor do I want to be one. But I would like to unpack this wildly peddled theory, from the perspective of a commoner.
Benazir was an extraordinary person, from every angle and she undertook tremendous risks by returning to Pakistan from her self-imposed exile. She was warned of all the dangers of potential attacks, and faced one immediately, upon arrival at Karsaz Road in Karachi on October 18, 2007. Any other person would have given up under those circumstances, but she continued undeterred. However, her stars were perhaps not aligned on December 27, 2007.
The party was not ready for the events that ensued. Rationally speaking, who else was there, who could have led and kept the party intact. Zardari, her widower, had to take the reins of the party, while consoling her workers and supporters.If there had been anyone other than Zardari, who had a fraction of her charisma, he or she would have been brought forward. We all know that all three of her children were very young at that time and certainly would have not been ready for the mantle.
Zardari gets a lot of flak for being unable to get the investigation of his wife’s murder concluded while in power and he blames it on the bungling of the crime scene under Musharraf’s watch
Zardari should be duly criticized for his tenure and the overall performance of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government for their full-term stint of 2008 to 2013. He restored the vigor of the post of Prime Minister by getting Yousuf Raza Gilani elected and opted to become the President himself, a powerless ceremonial figurehead.
The reduction of PPP from a national party to a regional one, happened under his watch and he is rightly blamed for that. His policy of appeasement to the Establishment, while in power, earns him no laurels whatsoever. His reconciliatory approach towards Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid -e-Azam (PML-Q), which was dubbed as the “Kings Party”, was ridiculed aptly for being tantamount to sleeping with the enemy.
Zardari gets a lot of flak for being unable to get the investigation of his wife’s murder concluded while in power and he blames it on the bungling of the crime scene under Musharraf’s watch. What investigative journos have uncovered is the systematic elimination of links and clues leading to the actual culprits.
On the political side, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and his father repeatedly blame Musharraf for being negligent and lax for facilitating this heinous crime.
Ten years later, the mystery remains unsolved and one can only hope that young Bilawal will not give up following the footsteps of his mother.He should pursue this till the very end. One, for the sake of his legendary mother and the other, for the sake of history.
The writer is a Pakistani-US
mortgage banker. He can be
reached at [email protected]. He tweets @dasghar.
Published in Daily Times, December 30th 2017.