The UN commissions much awaited report on ascertaining the circumstances which led to the assassination of Benazir Bhutto on December 27,2007,has little earthshaking to reveal to a generally sceptical Pakistani public. However,it reveals that the suicide bomber who blew himself up near Bhuttos vehicle was a 15-year-old boy,but that her death was likely caused by hitting the sunroof hatch which is what General Musharraf had said. But the report mentions that no autopsy was conducted to ascertain the cause of death.
It confirms many widely held informed views on the killing: that given the serious threat to Bhuttos life from various quarters,the security provided to her was utterly inadequate. It lays the blame squarely on the Musharraf regime (for a security lapse),and nothing beyond that. Among the people the report explicitly absolves of involvement in the murder plot are spouse Asif Ali Zardari,a number of political wheeler-dealers that Bhutto herself had suspected of planning to kill her,and the civil-military establishment.
The report blames equally the security cover provided to Bhutto by her own party. It says the bullet-proof Mercedes,designated as the standby vehicle,was found missing from the scene when she could have been transported in it to the hospital after the blast. The vehicle was manned by the now sitting interior minister,Rehman Malik,a former Federal Investigation Agency sleuth. The minister in his interview with the UN commission denied that he was in the car,but the commission notes that its investigation reveals otherwise.
The PPP-led government was quick to express its satisfaction over the report,without commenting on the key recommendation that it was now up to the government to pursue criminal investigations. The UN was not mandated to assign criminal responsibility,nor summon anyone to testify before it,as that would have involved those within the powerful,Pakistani (civil-military) establishment. The public view here is that it may still be beyond the government to institute a duly empowered,independent criminal inquiry into the death,and that like the murders of another former prime minister,Liaquat Ali Khan,and General Zia-ul-Haq,the truth may never see the light of day.
As analysts sit down to dissect the 54-page report many questions are likely to be raised. These include questioning the very purpose of commissioning the report,which cost the taxpayers more than $4 million. It will also be asked by angry party workers and those in the opposition as to why the PPP government had to be told by the UN to institute a proper criminal inquiry and why it hadnt done that already. The UN commission was constituted only in July 2009 more than a year after the PPP-led government came to power and 11 months after the ouster of Musharraf from presidency and was given six months in which to submit its findings.
Then,when the UN was ready with the report last March,Zardari requested it to further delay it by another two weeks to include testimonies of Saudi,UAE,American and Afghan officials who had warned Bhutto of the plot to kill her. The UNs response to the request was privately conveyed to Islamabad that it did not plan to accede to the request and would release its concluded findings. Even on Thursday evening in New York where the UN officials finally made the report public,Islamabad tried to thwart the move by insisting that only the government of Pakistan should do so. This too was declined and the report was presented before the media,with the Pakistan ambassador to the UN staying away from the press conference.
The only logical reason for delays was that the government wanted the Pakistani establishment on board before it shared the contents of the report with the public at large. This will not likely go down too well with the people.
The writer is an editor with Dawn,Karachi
express@expressindia.com
