Bhutto's Assassination Anniversary: Claims, Wild and Otherwise

A year ago today somebody killed Benazir Bhutto, who might have made a fine leader for Pakistan. Pakistanis are mourning the anniversary of her death with an enthusiasm that reminds me of the years following the JFK assassination.

And, we still don't know exactly who killed Benazir Bhutto.

A Pakistani government investigation found that she died as a result of a bomb blast. British detectives recently came to the same conclusion.

Whaddaya Mean, a Bomb Killed Bhutto?!

That's the 'wrong' answer, so now the U.N. may be getting involved.

Asif Ali Zardari, Benzair Bhutto's husband won the presidential election, and he's managed to alienate his own party, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP). It didn't help that he replaced many of Bhutto's staff with his own people. News outlets like The Hindu seems to have decided that people like Safdar Abbasi, a PPP member who doesn't like Zardari, are right, and that Zardari is a crook - or worse.

Yes, I'm overstating the case a bit. But I think their article carrys that implication:

"Many leading party members accuse her widower, President Zardari, of suppressing the investigation. 'It is intriguing why the Government has not even ordered any investigation into Ms Bhutto’s killing,' said Safdar Abbasi, a senator."
(TimesOnline)

Bhutto's Assassination: It Must be a Government Conspiracy!

'Obviously,' for some of the PPP people, Bhutto was killed by a gun, not a bomb, and that proves that the gov'mnt did it, and there's been a cover-up. They could be right. The October, 2007, bombing in Karachi that didn't kill Bhutto involved some very odd coincidences. It's possible that people in the Pakistani government were involved.

But that doesn't mean that the Pakistani government is involved. From what I've seen, Pakistan's civilian government just barely contols parts of the major cities, most of the time. The military isn't quite under the control of the civilian government, and neither of them have much to say about what the ISI does. The ISI is supposed to be Pakistan's intelligence agency. At this point, it's more of a state within a state: which leads me to another topic, for another post.

Bhutto's Assassination: Cover-Up, or Uncomfortable Reality?

There's something to the claim that Pakistani president Zardari 'suppressed' the investigation of his wife's killing. The previous administration's investigation had come up with answers. Asif Ali Zardari has a country to run now, and redundant investigations might do more harm than good. "Farhatullah Babar, a spokesman for Mr Zardari, confirmed that the Government was not conducting an investigation. 'We do not want to appear witch-hunting,' he said." (TimesOnline)

Bhutto's assassination was an international incident, so of course another set of investigators looked into the evidence:

"...Earlier this year, British detectives investigating the fatal attack in Rawalpindi said Mrs Bhutto had died from the effect of a bomb blast, not gunfire.

"Their account matched that of the Pakistani authorities...."
(BBC)

'Wrong' answer again.

Some discussion of Bhutto's assassination remind me of claims that George W. Bush blew up the New York World Trade Center, back in 2001. Maybe now, if the U.N. gets involved, someone can 'prove' that George W. killed Bhutto: which might satisfy some of America's more earnest thinkers. What their counterparts in Pakistan want to be true, I'm not quite sure.

List of related posts:

• "Individuals and the War on Terror -
  Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan"

News and views:

• "Bhutto’s Vision for Democratic Pakistan Crumbles (Update2)"
  Bloomberg (December 27, 2008)
• "Zardari suppressing Benazir probe: PPP leaders"
  The Hindu (December 27, 2008)
• "Pakistanis mourn Bhutto a year after killing"
  Reuters (December 27, 2008)
• "APP employees union offers fateha for BB"
  The Associated Press of Pakistan (December 27, 2008)
• "Pakistani mourners honour Bhutto"
  BBC (December 27, 2008)
  (with video)
• "Remembering Bhutto one year on"
  BBC (December 27, 2008)
• "U.N. to launch Bhutto death investigation"
  CNN (December 26, 2008)
• "Asif Ali Zardari’s purge 'betrays' Benazir Bhutto's legacy"
  TimesOnline (August 31, 2008)