Benazir’s Murder: Deepening Mystery & Musharraf Regime’s Vanishing Credibility

As I write this post, India’s leading TV channels are showing video clips of the alleged assailants firing from the revolver at Benazir Bhutto. And the news agency AP reports: “An Islamic militant group said Saturday it had no link to Benazir Bhutto’s killing and the opposition leader’s aides accused the government of a cover-up, disputing the official account of her assassination.

“Bhutto’s aides said they doubted militant commander Baitullah Mehsud was behind the attack on the opposition leader and said the government’s claim that she died when she hit her head on the sunroof of her vehicle was ‘dangerous nonsense’.

“Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton called for an independent, international investigation into Bhutto’s death — perhaps by the United Nations — saying Friday there was ‘no reason to trust the Pakistani government’.

To give a further twist to the entire mystery, Pakistan government did not carry out the post-mortem on Benazir Bhutto’s body. The government now explains that it was not done at the request of Bhutto’s husband. It is unbelievable that in a crime that has international ramifications, and all the potential of turning into a major controversy, the Pakistan government
conveniently overlooked basic legal requirements and allowed the burial to take place. Thus fuelling supicion that Musharraf regime is attempting a cover-up.

AP report says: “Pakistan’s government asserted Friday that al-Qaida was behind the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, and offered the transcript of a conversation as proof. Hundreds of thousands mobbed her funeral as the army tried to quell rioting across the nation that left 27 dead.

“President Pervez Musharraf’s government also said Bhutto was not killed by gunshots or shrapnel as originally claimed. Instead, it said her skull was shattered by the force of a suicide bomb blast that slammed her against a lever in her car’s sunroof.”

India’s leading TV channel NDTV quotes AFP report: “An alleged Al-Qaida leader Baitullah Mehsud, blamed by the Pakistan government for killing Benazir Bhutto, denied any involvement in her death, his spokesman said on Saturday. ‘He had no involvement in this attack,’ spokesman Maulana Omar said in a telephone call. ‘This is a conspiracy of the government, army and intelligence agencies’.

“The spokesman said he was calling from Pakistan’s Waziristan area, a lawless tribal region where Pakistani government forces have been battling Islamist militants. ‘It is against tribal tradition and custom to attack a woman,’ Omar said.

“He said the transcript released by the government, allegedly of a phone call between Mehsud and a militant discussing Bhutto’s death after the killing, was a ‘drama” and expressed sadness over her assassination on Thursday.”

Here is the Voice of America’s version…

So what is the truth?…It is out there…!!!