They
Don’t Blame Al-Qa’ida.
They Blame Musharraf
By
Robert Fisk
30 December,
2007
The
Independent
Weird,
isn’t it, how swiftly the narrative is laid down for us. Benazir
Bhutto, the courageous leader of the Pakistan People’s Party,
is assassinated in Rawalpindi - attached to the very capital of Islamabad
wherein ex-General Pervez Musharraf lives - and we are told by George
Bush that her murderers were “extremists” and “terrorists”.
Well, you can’t dispute that.
But the implication
of the Bush comment was that Islamists were behind the assassination.
It was the Taliban madmen again, the al-Qa’ida spider who struck
at this lone and brave woman who had dared to call for democracy in
her country.
Of course,
given the childish coverage of this appalling tragedy - and however
corrupt Ms Bhutto may have been, let us be under no illusions that this
brave lady is indeed a true martyr - it’s not surprising that
the “good-versus-evil” donkey can be trotted out to explain
the carnage in Rawalpindi.
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.
Only a few
days ago - in one of the most remarkable (but typically unrecognised)
scoops of the year - Tariq Ali published a brilliant dissection of Pakistan
(and Bhutto) corruption in the London Review of Books, focusing on Benazir
and headlined: “Daughter of the West”. In fact, the article
was on my desk to photocopy as its subject was being murdered in Rawalpindi.
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.” Or so Tariq Ali’s exposé would
have us believe. Over all this, however, looms the shocking power of
Pakistan’s ISI, the Inter Services Intelligence.
This vast
institution - corrupt, venal and brutal - works for Musharraf.
But it also
worked - and still works - for the Taliban. It also works for the Americans.
In fact, it works for everybody. But it is the key which Musharraf can
use to open talks with America’s enemies when he feels threatened
or wants to put pressure on Afghanistan or wants to appease the ”
extremists” and “terrorists” who so oppress George
Bush. And let us remember, by the way, that Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street
Journal reporter beheaded by his Islamist captors in Karachi, actually
made his fatal appointment with his future murderers from an ISI commander’s
office. Ahmed Rashid’s book Taliban provides riveting proof of
the ISI’s web of corruption and violence. Read it, and all of
the above makes more sense.
But back
to the official narrative. George Bush announced on Thursday he was
“looking forward” to talking to his old friend Musharraf.
Of course, they would talk about Benazir. They certainly would not talk
about the fact that Musharraf continues to protect his old acquaintance
- a certain Mr Khan - who supplied all Pakistan’s nuclear secrets
to Libya and Iran. No, let’s not bring that bit of the “axis
of evil” into this.
So, of course,
we were asked to concentrate once more on all those ” extremists”
and “terrorists”, not on the logic of questioning which
many Pakistanis were feeling their way through in the aftermath of Benazir’s
assassination.
It doesn’t,
after all, take much to comprehend that the hated elections looming
over Musharraf would probably be postponed indefinitely if his principal
political opponent happened to be liquidated before polling day.
So let’s
run through this logic in the way that Inspector Ian Blair might have
done in his policeman’s notebook before he became the top cop
in London.
Question:
Who forced Benazir Bhutto to stay in London and tried to prevent her
return to Pakistan? Answer: General Musharraf.
Question:
Who ordered the arrest of thousands of Benazir’s supporters this
month? Answer: General Musharraf.
Question:
Who placed Benazir under temporary house arrest this month? Answer:
General Musharraf.
Question:
Who declared martial law this month? Answer General Musharraf.
Question:
who killed Benazir Bhutto?
Er. Yes.
Well quite.
You see the
problem? Yesterday, our television warriors informed us the PPP members
shouting that Musharraf was a “murderer” were complaining
he had not provided sufficient security for Benazir. Wrong. They were
shouting this because they believe he killed her.
Robert Fisk
is Middle East correspondent for The Independent.
© 2007
The Independent
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