Benazir Bhutto’s assassination: President stops Malik from revealing BB murder report
Sources say interior minister wanted to present the report before PPP’s CEC.
Sources say interior minister wanted to present the report before PPP’s CEC.
KARACHI:
Differences between President Asif Ali Zardari and Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik seem to have increased after the former stopped the latter from revealing the Benazir Bhutto assassination investigation report before the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Central Executive Committee (CEC).
Daily Express has learnt the president issued the instructions to Malik just hours before the commemorative PPP rally at Garhi Khuda Bux on Benazir’s fifth death anniversary. The interior minister had earlier announced intentions to reveal the report at the occasion.
According to sources, Malik wanted to present the investigation report at the CEC meeting held on Benazir’s fifth death anniversary. He suggested PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari begin his political career by revealing the report, they added.
Towards this end, Malik had been in Karachi over the past few days, meeting with the FIA team investigating Benazir’s assassination and other senior agency officials, along with personally overseeing the publication of the several hundred-page report. The interior minister had planned to distribute copies of the report among committee members and journalists at the CEC meeting.
President Zardari, however, rejected Malik’s suggestions. According to the sources, he directed the minister against presenting the report mere hours before the rally in Garhi Khuda Bux on Thursday.
They added that upon receiving the instructions, Malik directed officials concerned to stop the report’s publication, which had been in its final stages at the time.
It should be noted that the interior minister had earlier presented the report before the Sindh Assembly. Most of the report details have been reported by the media.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 29th, 2012.
Differences between President Asif Ali Zardari and Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik seem to have increased after the former stopped the latter from revealing the Benazir Bhutto assassination investigation report before the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Central Executive Committee (CEC).
Daily Express has learnt the president issued the instructions to Malik just hours before the commemorative PPP rally at Garhi Khuda Bux on Benazir’s fifth death anniversary. The interior minister had earlier announced intentions to reveal the report at the occasion.
According to sources, Malik wanted to present the investigation report at the CEC meeting held on Benazir’s fifth death anniversary. He suggested PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari begin his political career by revealing the report, they added.
Towards this end, Malik had been in Karachi over the past few days, meeting with the FIA team investigating Benazir’s assassination and other senior agency officials, along with personally overseeing the publication of the several hundred-page report. The interior minister had planned to distribute copies of the report among committee members and journalists at the CEC meeting.
President Zardari, however, rejected Malik’s suggestions. According to the sources, he directed the minister against presenting the report mere hours before the rally in Garhi Khuda Bux on Thursday.
They added that upon receiving the instructions, Malik directed officials concerned to stop the report’s publication, which had been in its final stages at the time.
It should be noted that the interior minister had earlier presented the report before the Sindh Assembly. Most of the report details have been reported by the media.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 29th, 2012.