With a pinch of salt

Pervez Musharraf pointed a finger at Zardari and held him responsible for the murders of Benazir and brother Murtaza

While the cold, bitter facts about the assassination of Benazir Bhutto are generally known to all, it has been difficult to establish with any degree of certainty the involvement of certain individuals or groups in her death. For the better part of a decade, Benazir’s murder had been consigned along with several other cases, including the 1951 assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan, to the bin of unsolved mysteries — tragically forgotten and under a veil of silence. In the last few years there has been a shout here and an allegation there but little has been heard regarding the perpetrators of the attack or their motives.

Even through the thicket of conspiracy theories and the torrent of accusations and counter-accusations the whole truth has never come out and probably never will. But the accusations are becoming darker.

On Thursday, former military ruler General Pervez Musharraf pointed the finger at Asif Ali Zardari and held him responsible for the murders of Benazir and her brother Murtaza. Never mind the fact that in the same 12-minute video statement posted on social media Gen Musharraf claimed he was sure that former Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief “Baitullah Mehsud and his people” had carried out the assassination — a charge he has consistently repeated over the years. The mastermind of the murder plot was Zardari, claimed the ex-president. Two other persons were also named for their possible role in the plot — former Afghan president Hamid Karzai and an unnamed official.

Given the graveness of the allegation, perhaps it would be better if General Musharraf could have held his peace and not spoken out thus. In his defence, Gen Musharraf says he was provoked by the PPP leader into breaking his silence on the issue. It’s true that Mr Zardari had only a day before blamed him directly for Benazir’s murder. All this is just hearsay. There is little point in levelling allegations without backing them up with solid evidence.

The focus of all concerned parties should be on sifting fact from fiction and conducting a thorough investigation into the murder. And the time is ripe for it now that a Lahore High Court bench has accepted appeals against last month’s Anti-terrorism Court judgment.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 23^rd, 2017.

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