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Saturday, January 5, 2008

The murder of Benazir

Another negative, humiliating and sad breaking news involving Pakistan. Benazir, a controversial yet famous figure was killed in such a brutal way with a dozen other civilians. Benazir who lived a controversial life leaves the stage with another controversy surrounding her death. The silence and confusion in the air created by different people from PPP and the government is really making this matter complex and is not helping in the cause to find the killer. The government's irresponsible stance on her death is as ridicules as their security measures that were taken to safe guard Benazir's life. I will not get into a debate about Benazir's departure from Pakistan's politics as good or bad. But the way she died is inhumane and the killer must be identified and brought to justice to prevent such incidents in the future. There are several questions that create a lot of suspicion and may as well point fingers at the presumed innocent. I will say here that the following theory is my own so people may differ from it. The following are honest and unbiased questions that most of us are thinking of, so lets take a look at them.

1. Why didn't the killer try to shoot her when she was giving speech?
2. How did the killer know that he would get another chance to shoot her when she will be leaving?
3. How did the shooter come so close?
4. Did the shooter know about the bomb?
5. Why did her body was sent out for burial in such a haste?
6. Why was the crime scene wiped clean in a few hours and why wasn't the government stopped by PPP?
7. Why didn’t PPP go for an autopsy?
8. Why hasn't PPP united on one stand to find the killer?
9. Why PPP still wants to go for the election?
10. Who has benefited from her death?

Theory 1

If one looks at the videos released by the government and other agencies it seems that the killer knew exactly where to be and when to shoot. It was like someone told him to be there because Benazir will come out of the sunroof that is why he didn’t attempt to kill her when she was giving the speech. The killer knew that Benazir’s car is bomb proof and that the bullet is the answer to it. Benazir was his target so when he shot her, why did he or the bomber find it necessary to detonate the bomb to kill innocent people? After the shooting Benazir went inside the car so there was no way the bomb could have hurt her in anyway. It also makes me think that the shooter actually didn’t know about the bomb and the bomb was planted there and detonated to kill the shooter when he was done with his job. The bomb killed the shooter and wiped out the evidence with him.

Theory 2

The bullets that were removed from Benazir’s body are now gone because the doctors have changed their opinion from the bullet to the sunroof lever as the cause of death. Now one cannot clearly say anything about which gun was the murder weapon. Secondly if you see the video closely, you will find that after the first shot Benazir fell in the car and because the gun also would have recoiled the probability of another bullet hitting Benazir is low. But the doctors found two bullets from her body; it makes me think that there is a possibility of a sniper taking the shot and that the on-ground-shooter was a cover up to the whole thing just to deviate people’s attention to phantom Al-Qaeda. The sniper might as well have detonated the planted bomb to eliminate the evidence and to make it look like an act of terrorism.

The above theories, based on some hard facts, make the killing well planned and not an act of some terrorist organisation. Now lets take a look at who has really benefited from this incident. After this incident the popularity of Musharraf is at it’s all time low and PPP is popular like it was after the death of Zulifqar Ali Bhutto in 1978. The PPP now has the support of the masses, who after this incident have forgotten all about the deals and NRO etc. A lot of people have emotionally turned and now support PPP.

Lets take a look back again; the shooter came very close to the car in which Benazir was travelling and he knew where to be and when to shoot her. I think that some of the senior politicians of PPP and Benazir’s close aides were involved in the killing and they might have had the shooter to be on the right place at the right time. These politicians may have also cleared the shooter from the security checks. Obviously the whole thing must have been planned by some intelligence agency, domestic or foreign. The thing is that PPP didn’t even go for an autopsy, which should have been done. Benazir’s body was sent so quickly for burial and the crime scene was wiped clean before any preliminary investigation was done. The surprising fact is that PPP hasn’t rallied out and given a “hard” statement against the government yet they still want to participate in the elections that they themselves think will not be free and fair. PPP hasn't even tried to find a good politician from among themselves to be the next leader, instead they came up with Benazir's will. Some politicians in PPP has now a strangle hold on the party that has become even more strong after having Zardari playing his role and having an eighteen year old son of Benazir as chairperson who as a minor can easily be controlled. It has also stopped other competent people from heading PPP and has gained the support of Bhutto lovers. PPP is a party that thrives on sacrifices and if one sees, PPP has solely benefited from Benazir’s death and has satisfied Musharraf’s insatiable hunger for power. There is a lot more that can be concluded here but I will leave the rest on the readers. I’ll just end this article with a prayer that may God protect our country from enemies both foreign and domestic, Amen.