By collecting all the available evidence, pruning the reports of the investigation and then pointing to the gaps, Suhail Warraich has made the process more transparent
Suhail Warraich is a leading journalist of the country. Since he was initially nurtured in the print media his two timing with the electronic media has not made him forget the indispensable virtues of journalism. He is particularly careful in double or triple-checking, and more than that in crediting every story to the source. This responsible attitude is also demonstrated as he has written this book on one of the most troubling and heart-wrenching events in the political history of the country.
Benazir Bhutto’s entire life was spent in struggling against the massive odds. The judicial murder of her father, the imprisonment, at times solitary, the launching of the political movement, coming to power twice with great fetters attached, and then her exile and final return to Pakistan when she was assassinated on second attempt. The first she survived miraculously on October 18, 2007 in Karachi but the December 27 attack the same year in Rawalpindi proved to be fatal. She also saw the murder of her two brothers and loss of the mother to Alzheimer’s ater she was probably unable to cope with the series of tragedies in her family.
And obviously many doubts were raised about the motive of her murder. It simply added fuel to the already flared up market of speculation and conspiracies. Many names were taken and many reasons were attributed for the heinous crime that deprived the country of one of the most outstanding politicians it had produced.
It is rare in Pakistan that the mystery of murders is resolved-and it is even rarer if the murder happens to be of a high profile politician. And there has been a long history of such assassinations and a longer list of politicians who have been dismissed, sacked from high offices, unceremoniously removed and just told to go home. Some remonstrated but most did not and resumed their political activity once the conditions were again favourable.
In the process of repression, curbs on political activity and crackdowns the politicians have chosen the nature of their political activity according to their own will power, resources and style. There has not been a level playing field for politicians in the country and cannot be judged merely on their performances or programmes. The successful exploitation of the chances that they got or made available for themselves, and creating opportunities can be political initiative to some, to others mere compromise of basic principles of their politics.
But then politics is the art of the possible and being exposed to criticism is better than sticking to one’s guns irrespective of the objective situation. It only elicits charges of stubbornness and intransigence. Exercising flexibility is one of the givens of a practical politician and any criticism merely on this count cannot be taken on face value.
But still it exposes the flanks and the criticism can stick in an environment that is hugely prone to lending its ears to conspiracies and half baked truths. So it was not only the murder that rankled, but with others like NRO bandied as some kind of a security guarantee against the charges of corruption. The desire for democratic resumption of political activity made Benazir expose herself to grave danger and, since her assassination, much has been said and written more in the realm of speculation.
Despite all the various investigations that have been carried out by the agencies in the country, not much headway was made in coming to any conclusive evidence about the murder. Even international agencies and reputed ones were engaged like the Scotland Yard and the United Nations but still the responsibility could not be fixed. The terms under which these investigations were carried out also did not help in reaching any conclusion beyond reasonable doubt.
In view of the lack of incontrovertible evidence, Suhail Warraich has done a good job by collection all the investigations that were carried out and has put them together in one place. This gives a clearer picture about what exactly happened and it points to the various major flaws that have been detected during the course of the investigations. There were massive security lapses and many other failures that made the task of the executers easier or perhaps had made the jobs of all executioners in the country’s history easy.
By collecting all the available evidence, pruning the reports of the investigation and then pointing to the gaps Suhail Warraich has made the process more transparent.
It also exposes the various faults, the way the system operates in the country, a combination of inefficiency and work which has not been thought through. The half-hearted attempts have not only made us lose leaders like Benazir Bhutto but have made the country suffer immensely on all fronts. With better system and the will to make those systems work can Pakistan be uplifted from the mess that it finds itself in.