Benazir Bhutto before she became a martyr to democracy

Leave it to Robert Fisk (relying on reporing by Tariq Ali in this case) to provide a well-informed take on Benazir Bhutto's assassination that frames things in a surprising way, in They don't blame al-Qa'ida. They blame Musharraf Independent 12/29/07. Commenting on the "childish" coverage of her death, he asks:

Who would have imagined, watching the BBC or CNN on Thursday, that her two brothers, Murtaza and Shahnawaz, hijacked a Pakistani airliner in 1981 and flew it to Kabul where Murtaza demanded the release of political prisoners in Pakistan. Here, a military officer on the plane was murdered. There were Americans aboard the flight – which is probably why the prisoners were indeed released.

Well, it was news to me anyway. And that's not all. Referring to a 2007 article by Tariq Ali on Pakistan, Daughter of the West London Review of Books 12/13/07, he writes:

Towards the end of this report, Tariq Ali dwelt at length on the subsequent murder of Murtaza Bhutto by police close to his home at a time when Benazir was prime minister – and at a time when Benazir was enraged at Murtaza for demanding a return to PPP values and for condemning Benazir's appointment of her own husband as minister for industry, a highly lucrative post.

In a passage which may yet be applied to the aftermath of Benazir's murder, the report continues: "The fatal bullet had been fired at close range. The trap had been carefully laid, but, as is the way in Pakistan, the crudeness of the operation – false entries in police log-books, lost evidence, witnesses arrested and intimidated – a policeman killed who they feared might talk – made it obvious that the decision to execute the prime minister's brother had been taken at a very high level."

When Murtaza's 14-year-old daughter, Fatima, rang her aunt Benazir to ask why witnesses were being arrested – rather than her father's killers – she says Benazir told her: "Look, you're very young. You don't understand things."

Yo!

Tags: benazir bhutto, pakistan, robert fisk, tariq ali

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