By Shakeel Anjum


ISLAMABAD: Although the UN Commission inquiry report into the assassination of Benazir Bhutto has cleared her spouse, Asif Ali Zardari, it has unambiguously mentioned that he was ‘deeply involved’ in preparing the security plan of Benazir Bhutto on her return to Pakistan on Oct 18, 2007.

The ‘Fact Finding Commission’ of the UN could not go any further as it did not have the

mandate to point out any suspect or declare anybody innocent. However, it is evident that this aspect of the report has not been given due attention.

The report says that Mr Zardari deputed Rehman Malik, Zulfiqar Mirza and Agha Siraj Durrani for implementation of the security plan prepared by him, something which clearly negates the claim of Rehman Malik that he was not responsible for her ‘physical safety/security’.

However, the UN Commission report has left the crucial point unanswered whether this ‘deep involvement’ of Mr Zardari in preparing the ‘security plan’ for Ms Bhutto had any ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ implications. “Mr Asif Ali Zardari, Ms Bhutto’s husband, was deeply involved in planning of Ms Bhutto’s security for her return to Pakistan. Ms Bhutto and Mr Zardari relied to a significant extent on persons close to them to plan and organise the PPP’s security for her. They included former senior FIA official Rehman Malik and Sindh PPP leaders Zulfikar Ali Mirza and Agha Sirraj Durrani,” the commission said in para 64 of its report. “Mr Malik described his role to the Commission as Ms Bhutto’s ‘national security adviser’, and not her ‘physical security adviser’. He also liaised with the federal authorities on behalf of Ms Bhutto and participated as her representative in negotiations with General Musharraf and his aides. However, most PPP leaders understood Malik’s role as encompassing all aspects of Bhutto’s security. Many also said that he coordinated with Bhutto’s protection detail, including with Major Imtiaz and Tauqir Kaira. The Commission finds that, in addition to what Malik himself described, he performed a significant role in the overall management of Bhutto’s security. His letters to the authorities regarding threat warnings and requesting specific security support reflect this involvement,” mentions para 65 of the UN report.

The Commission also criticized the suspicious role of riders of the ‘back up’ vehicle, a Mercedes-Benz, including Rehman Malik, Babar Awan, Gen (R) Tauqeer Zia and Farhatullah Babar, in sub-section-vii of para 259. Their irresponsible and hasty conduct contributed towards the death of Benazir Bhutto.

The UN Commission report says that: “The additional security arrangements of the PPP lacked leadership and were inadequate and poorly executed. The Commission recognizes the heroism of individual PPP supporters, many of whom sacrificed themselves to protect Bhutto. However, Bhutto was left vulnerable in a severely damaged vehicle that was unable to transport her to the hospital by the irresponsible and hasty departure of the bullet-proof Mercedes-Benz which, as the back-up vehicle, was an essential part of her convoy.”

Meanwhile, as the government is repeatedly claiming that an official inquiry by the concerned Pakistani authorities is still continuing to reach the core of the conspiracy and arrest the perpetrators of the heinous crime, there is a tide of criticism building about the impartiality and independence of this inquiry. The critics are openly talking about the credentials and credibility of this inquiry by the government-controlled authorities, i.e. the FIA, the IB in addition to the Special Branch and ‘Bomb Disposal Squad’ experts of Police.

It is almost a general consensus that if the government wishes people to believe that the job being undertaken by all these investigation agencies is impartial and without any duress, it is essential that those holding important official positions and whose names were mentioned in the UN report should resign from their posts till the investigations are completed so that they should not influence the process of investigations or those engaged in the investigations should not feel intimidated or under any pressure.

They believe that their resignations will certainly help these investigating agencies to prepare a report that would be taken as ‘authentic and impartial’. On the other hand, the recent utterances by Mr Zardari that 90 per cent of those behind the assassination of Bhutto have already been arrested and only “10 per cent” are still at large sounds intriguing to many in an entirely different perspective.