Benazir Bhutto - SZABIST

The writer is editor current affairs, The News, and editor South Asian Journal
The News
January 2, 2008
'You can name Musharraf as my
assassin if I am killed': Benazir
Her exchange of e-mails with a confidant shows Benazir was on the verge of exposing an ISI
operation to rig the January 8 election
Amir Mir
On November 13, 2007, I had a one-to-one meeting with former prime minister Benazir Bhutto at the
Lahore residence of Senator Latif Khosa. She said she had no doubt about the people who had
masterminded the attack on her on October 18, the day she had returned to Pakistan from exile.
Benazir told me, "I have come to know after investigations by my own sources that the October 18
bombing was masterminded by some highly-placed officials in the Pakistani security and intelligence
establishments who had hired an Al Qaeda-linked militant—Maulvi Abdul Rehman Otho alias Abdul
Rehman Sindhi—to execute the attack." She said three local militants were hired to carry out the
attack under the supervision of Abdul Rehman Sindhi, an Al Qaeda-linked Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ)
militant from the Dadu district of Sindh.
Before Benazir arrived in Pakistan, Sindhi had been mysteriously released from prison, where he had
been incarcerated for his role in the May '04 bombing of the US Cultural Centre in Karachi.
She said she subsequently wrote a letter naming her would-be assassins. When I asked her who the
recipient of the letter was and whether she had named Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf as well,
she had smiled and said, "Mind one thing, all those in the establishment who stand to lose power and
influence in the post-election set-up are after me, including the General. I can't give you further
details at this stage. However, you can name Musharraf as my assassin if I am killed."
Twenty-four hours after Benazir was assassinated, Asia Time Online, a Hong Kong-based web
newspaper, reported that Al Qaeda had claimed responsibility for her killing, further adding that the
death squad consisted of Punjabi associates of the underground anti-Shi'ite militant group Lashkar-e-
Jhangvi, operating under Al Qaeda orders.
"We terminated the most precious American asset who had vowed to defeat the mujahideen." These
were the words of one Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, a top Al Qaeda commander for the Afghanistan
operations as well as an Al Qaeda spokesperson. "This is our first major victory against those (Benazir
and Musharraf) who have been siding with infidels (the West) in the fight against Al Qaeda..."
Interestingly enough, Sindhi—the person whom Benazir had named in our conversation—is an LeJ
member.
But few here believe LeJ could have managed to carry out the attack without assistance from sections
in the establishment. Analysts believe Al Qaeda has become a convenient smokescreen to explain
motivated attacks on political rivals. The question people are asking is: What motive could the
establishment have in killing Benazir?