Thursday
Apr152010
Assassination Report Released On Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto
Thursday, April 15, 2010 at 6:52PM
The highly charged investigative report by the inquiry commission on the assassination of the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mrs. Benazir Bhutto, left members "mystified" and underscored that Bhutto's death could have been prevented.
The Commission blamed police and security officers for not being "pro-active" in "neutralizing" the threat. They cited "hosing down the crime scene," and the lack of commitment to identify persons responsible which they believed was "deliberate."
The report also claims the 15 and half year old suicide bomber who detonated his explosives near her vehicle on December 27 2007, did not act alone.
The report was the culmination of 250 interviews, and dozens of photographs and documented video. The Commission spoke with several high ranking members of the United States Government that wished to not be identified in the final report. Former Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, declined to participate.
Investigators identified government officials in Punjab and the Rawalpindi District and blamed the ISI(Inter-Service Intelligence) and the MI (Military Intelligence) for Bhutto's murder. Commission experts were very "suspicious," of a controversial and hastily arranged press conference organized directly after Bhutto's death, and which pointed the finger at Taliban, Jihadi and Al-Qaeda groups.
The Commission questioned security forces on why they allowed a massive crowd to gather around Ms. Bhutto's convoy on the day of the murder.
Ambassador Munoz of Chile, who served as chairman of the commission submitted the report this afternoon to the Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, who will now disseminate the findings to the Security Council.
"This was a deeply traumatizing event for the Pakistani people," added Munoz.
Munoz emphasized the political power struggle between former President Pervez Musharraf and Bhutto and the sharp increase in violence in 2007 by Islamic extremists as causal factors of her death.
"There was no agreement between Bhutto and Musharraf. Ms. Bhutto believed he (Musharraf) was using the security threat to prevent her from returning to Pakistan."
The report cited that Ms. Bhutto believed former President Musharraf was deliberately seeking to minimize her security and blamed the federal government for ignoring these "fresh, security threats that they knew she faced." The Commission also underscored how the federal government left the security arrangements to provincial, "ineffective" and "insufficient" security forces.
"Ms. Bhutto was left vulnerable, by the hasty departure of the bullet-proof Mercedes Benz, which, as a back-up vehicle, was an essential part of her convoy,"added Munoz as he read from the report. Additionally, he said the security forces acted preemptively and with no proper investigation when they blamed Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud (who was killed in August 2009) and Al-Qaeda.
"It now remains the responsibility of the Pakistani authorities to bring those responsible to justice."
Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari, currently serves as president of the country.
The Commission blamed police and security officers for not being "pro-active" in "neutralizing" the threat. They cited "hosing down the crime scene," and the lack of commitment to identify persons responsible which they believed was "deliberate."
The report also claims the 15 and half year old suicide bomber who detonated his explosives near her vehicle on December 27 2007, did not act alone.
The report was the culmination of 250 interviews, and dozens of photographs and documented video. The Commission spoke with several high ranking members of the United States Government that wished to not be identified in the final report. Former Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, declined to participate.
Investigators identified government officials in Punjab and the Rawalpindi District and blamed the ISI(Inter-Service Intelligence) and the MI (Military Intelligence) for Bhutto's murder. Commission experts were very "suspicious," of a controversial and hastily arranged press conference organized directly after Bhutto's death, and which pointed the finger at Taliban, Jihadi and Al-Qaeda groups.
The Commission questioned security forces on why they allowed a massive crowd to gather around Ms. Bhutto's convoy on the day of the murder.
Ambassador Munoz of Chile, who served as chairman of the commission submitted the report this afternoon to the Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, who will now disseminate the findings to the Security Council.
"This was a deeply traumatizing event for the Pakistani people," added Munoz.
Munoz emphasized the political power struggle between former President Pervez Musharraf and Bhutto and the sharp increase in violence in 2007 by Islamic extremists as causal factors of her death.
"There was no agreement between Bhutto and Musharraf. Ms. Bhutto believed he (Musharraf) was using the security threat to prevent her from returning to Pakistan."
The report cited that Ms. Bhutto believed former President Musharraf was deliberately seeking to minimize her security and blamed the federal government for ignoring these "fresh, security threats that they knew she faced." The Commission also underscored how the federal government left the security arrangements to provincial, "ineffective" and "insufficient" security forces.
"Ms. Bhutto was left vulnerable, by the hasty departure of the bullet-proof Mercedes Benz, which, as a back-up vehicle, was an essential part of her convoy,"added Munoz as he read from the report. Additionally, he said the security forces acted preemptively and with no proper investigation when they blamed Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud (who was killed in August 2009) and Al-Qaeda.
"It now remains the responsibility of the Pakistani authorities to bring those responsible to justice."
Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari, currently serves as president of the country.
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