Two weeks before the fateful Rawalpindi rally on December 27, 2007 in which Benazir Bhutto was assassinated, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) dispatched a secret memo to the interior ministry that two suicide bombers might attack her outside Liaquat Bagh.
A week before her arrival in Pakistan in October that year, Ms Bhutto told her friend Mark Siegel that General Musharraf might try to harm her. She named the individuals who she said should be held responsible if something happened to her.
After her assassination, the People’s Party rode on a sympathy wave to come to power, and ruled the country for five years. But they could not bring the case to its logical end. They did politicize the matter, implicating General Musharraf without obtaining solid evidence against him. That also contributed to spoiling civil-military relations.
Nawaz Sharif had vowed before the 2013 general elections that he would bring her murderers to justice. But the situation has worsened for the prosecution. Witnesses have gone hostile, the investigators failed to establish anything concrete against General Musharraf, and the authenticity of Baitullah Mehsud’s recorded conversation has not been ascertained.
According to Chaudhry Azhar, the chief prosecutor, the case has almost reached its conclusion. “The only thing pending is the statement of Mark Siegel. Once it is recorded, the court won’t take more than 10 days to announce the verdict,” he told me. Mr Siegel, a friend of Ms Bhutto, had refused to visit Pakistan to record his statement because of security concerns. After much hesitation, the court allowed the prosecutor to make him testify via video link from the United States.
Chaudhry Azhar has strong reservations about the retraction of a statement by a key witness, senior police official Yaseen Farooq. He had given a statement that SSP Saud Aziz had withdrawn an important security cover for Ms Bhutto. The officer had also reportedly ordered washing the crime scene soon after the incident. Yaseen Farooq now works with the FIA, in its cyber crime wing.
The chief prosecutor said the ISI secret memo was part of court record. He believes the interior ministry and other departments concerned should be held responsible for failing to avert the disaster despite prior intelligence.
Asked why did the prosecution dropped Brig (r) Ejaz Shah as a witness, he said Brig Shah was only to corroborate whether Gen Musharraf pressured Brig (r) Javed Iqbal Cheema, the director general of the National Crisis Management Cell, to hold a press conference and declare Baitullah Mehsud the mastermind of Ms Bhutto’s assassination. In a meeting, the then interior secretary Syed Kamal Shah had objected to that decision, saying it was too early to fix responsibility.
Meanwhile, the tape that allegedly contained a conversation by Mehsud after the assassination could not be authenticated. Chaudhry Azhar said the ISI operator who had intercepted the call refused to testify before the court.
A joint investigation team that probed Ms Bhutto’s assertion that some people wanted to kill her could not find anything concrete against Gen Hameed Gul, Brig Shah and Pervez Elahi. All of them were exonerated at the investigation stage.
The chief prosecutor said their case against Gen Musharraf was based on three specific suspicions – first, that he had forced Brig Cheema to hold the press conference and divert the investigation, second, that he threatened Ms Bhutto saying she should return to Pakistan at her own risk, and third, that he did not want her to return before the 2008 general elections.
Kamran Murtaza, former chairman of the Supreme Court Bar Association, says neither of the three points would be accepted in a court of law. “There is no concrete evidence against Gen Musharraf. In such a situation, the court would dismiss the case against him,” he said.
A source close to the prosecutors said they were not satisfied with the investigation by the FIA. They said the case was politicized for the benefit of the accused.
The two attackers who killed Ms Bhutto died on the spot in the explosion. Later, police arrested five suspects who were said to be part of the assassination plot. Meanwhile, Baitullah Mehsud died in a drone attack.
The next hearing of the case is on August 26.
A week before her arrival in Pakistan in October that year, Ms Bhutto told her friend Mark Siegel that General Musharraf might try to harm her. She named the individuals who she said should be held responsible if something happened to her.
After her assassination, the People’s Party rode on a sympathy wave to come to power, and ruled the country for five years. But they could not bring the case to its logical end. They did politicize the matter, implicating General Musharraf without obtaining solid evidence against him. That also contributed to spoiling civil-military relations.
Nawaz Sharif had vowed before the 2013 general elections that he would bring her murderers to justice. But the situation has worsened for the prosecution. Witnesses have gone hostile, the investigators failed to establish anything concrete against General Musharraf, and the authenticity of Baitullah Mehsud’s recorded conversation has not been ascertained.
According to Chaudhry Azhar, the chief prosecutor, the case has almost reached its conclusion. “The only thing pending is the statement of Mark Siegel. Once it is recorded, the court won’t take more than 10 days to announce the verdict,” he told me. Mr Siegel, a friend of Ms Bhutto, had refused to visit Pakistan to record his statement because of security concerns. After much hesitation, the court allowed the prosecutor to make him testify via video link from the United States.
Chaudhry Azhar has strong reservations about the retraction of a statement by a key witness, senior police official Yaseen Farooq. He had given a statement that SSP Saud Aziz had withdrawn an important security cover for Ms Bhutto. The officer had also reportedly ordered washing the crime scene soon after the incident. Yaseen Farooq now works with the FIA, in its cyber crime wing.
The chief prosecutor said the ISI secret memo was part of court record. He believes the interior ministry and other departments concerned should be held responsible for failing to avert the disaster despite prior intelligence.
Asked why did the prosecution dropped Brig (r) Ejaz Shah as a witness, he said Brig Shah was only to corroborate whether Gen Musharraf pressured Brig (r) Javed Iqbal Cheema, the director general of the National Crisis Management Cell, to hold a press conference and declare Baitullah Mehsud the mastermind of Ms Bhutto’s assassination. In a meeting, the then interior secretary Syed Kamal Shah had objected to that decision, saying it was too early to fix responsibility.
The investigators failed to establish anything concrete against Musharraf
Meanwhile, the tape that allegedly contained a conversation by Mehsud after the assassination could not be authenticated. Chaudhry Azhar said the ISI operator who had intercepted the call refused to testify before the court.
A joint investigation team that probed Ms Bhutto’s assertion that some people wanted to kill her could not find anything concrete against Gen Hameed Gul, Brig Shah and Pervez Elahi. All of them were exonerated at the investigation stage.
The chief prosecutor said their case against Gen Musharraf was based on three specific suspicions – first, that he had forced Brig Cheema to hold the press conference and divert the investigation, second, that he threatened Ms Bhutto saying she should return to Pakistan at her own risk, and third, that he did not want her to return before the 2008 general elections.
Kamran Murtaza, former chairman of the Supreme Court Bar Association, says neither of the three points would be accepted in a court of law. “There is no concrete evidence against Gen Musharraf. In such a situation, the court would dismiss the case against him,” he said.
A source close to the prosecutors said they were not satisfied with the investigation by the FIA. They said the case was politicized for the benefit of the accused.
The two attackers who killed Ms Bhutto died on the spot in the explosion. Later, police arrested five suspects who were said to be part of the assassination plot. Meanwhile, Baitullah Mehsud died in a drone attack.
The next hearing of the case is on August 26.