Judicial murder of ZA Bhutto — a national tragedy

ZA Bhutto was handed over the country in 1971 when it was fractured and people were demoralised. He struggled day and night to heal the wounds of the nation with his great leadership and restored the confidence in the people of Pakistan which is source of inspiration of the well-being of Pakistan and source of strength for the people.

The house of Bhutto is symbol of sacrifice and unity. The graveyard of Ghari Khuda Bakhsh demonstrates love of the Shahuda for Pakistan. Nobody in Pakistan can claim what Bilawal can claim as a patriotic leader with his unmatched legacy as he is a continued legacy of those who preferred to die while fighting against the enemies of Pakistan. He was a leader who inspired the masses and refused to surrender before the anti-Pakistan foreign mafia and continued his nuclear programme undeterred which have made us safe we all proud of his vision. His judicial murder in the hands of American agents is no more a secret. Despite the confession by some of the trail judges, the case has not been reopened and the reference by the former president Asif Ali Zardari is still lying un-actioned in the Supreme Court.

I am touching the most tragic part of our history by exposing here today the old files, which look dead, but these stand testimony to the history and truth as to how this great lover of Pakistan was eliminated just because he was sincere to Pakistan. It was way back in mid-1989 while sitting on the 4th floor of the FIA HQ in my office where I happened to see the murder case file where Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was implicated. I could not stop the reading of the noting portion of the said file and the relevant papers contained in the file. I will write more in detail some time later about more details of the judicial murder of ZAB but today I will refer here the note portion of the then Director Law of FIA who had the moral courage to pen down the reality that the bullets shown to have been used in the murder of late Mr. Kasuri, in fact, did not match with the weapon in question allegedly used by FSF official who was declared as the killer. Director/Law had killed the fabricated abetment theory against ZAB by the prosecution under pressure. The file is full of shocking criminal and intellectual dishonesties of replacement of the first 164 statement of Masood Mahmood recorded by Agha Ghazenfar was replaced with another statement of Masood Mahmood recorded by another magistrate Mr Qureshi from Lahore falsely implicating ZAB in return of his migration to USA with enough pressure.

Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was the same PM who gave us nuclear bomb and he refused to listen to American threats including Henry Kissinger, as he did not want to betray his country by rolling back nuclear programme. The conspiracy of elimination of ZAB was passing through its pre-set stages and a great patriot ZAB was sent to gallows punishing him for giving nuclear to his beloved country. I have narrated these facts to tell his critics that he was a visionary leader who did not surrender but fought out for his country and masses. ZAB emerged as national hero and now his legacy is being taken forward by Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

Political opponents should not distort the history by making unwise political, baseless, inimical and unethical statements.

Let me take these critics through the history and I challenge these critics to have debate with me & I will prove you all wrong on the politically motivated propaganda.

Bhutto family is unarguably a paradigm of tragedies and sacrifices. They have given their lives for the restoration of democracy, starting from the youngest son of ZAB, Shah Nawaz Bhutto to his favourite daughter Benazir Bhutto. Shaheed Shah Nawaz Bhutto being the youngest son sacrificed his life fighting the tyrannical regime of Zia against his father’s incarceration and execution. He unfortunately ended up losing his life in his struggle and sacrifices for democracy. When ZAB was put under house arrest, Shah Nawaz Bhutto left for Lahore where he delivered the first ever-political speech of his life and increased the morale of party workers. Shah Nawaz Bhutto was mysteriously killed for his untiring struggle against dictatorship leaving the lavish life style he used to follow. I along with my team investigated this murder case with the help of French police who was killed just because he opposed the then dictator and not Pakistan.

My report on this murder was submitted to the then PM in my capacity as Director FIA and it has the full back ground and the details who did it and how the war poison was used to kill him.

Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto worked tirelessly and consistently both at home as well as during her exile period for the cause of democracy in the country right from Zia’s regime to Pervez Musharraf. The country cannot forget the day she was brutally killed at her homeland on 25th December 2007 while she had returned from exile for the sake of her downtrodden people. It was conspired to eliminate her from the political scene of Pakistan by the enemies of Pakistan.

If you recall Bilawal Bhutto Zardari did not become the part of that mainstream mud-slinging trend of Pakistan’s politics during his campaign speeches. He rather criticised those who were following the trend in their offensiveness towards their opponents. After entering the house of parliament, his famous first maiden speech stole the show from anyone and everyone speaking on the floor praised his wisdom and stand taken on national issues and he reminded the nation of ZAB. He made it clear that his party will accept the new government's right to rule, only if the new government meets public expectations raised by its own rhetoric. He has given respect to the house of parliament more than many other senior political leaders by attending almost all sessions and participating in maximum parliamentary proceedings. He has also taken a clear stance on religious extremism despite being aware of the fact that this very religious extremism has taken the lives of his dear ones.

He is being criticised for the stand, which the government ministers have already taken publicly vis-à-vis proscribed organisations. The prime minister and the ministers have already taken the similar stand both in and out of the Parliament when they promised to take action against the proscribed organisation had India provided any evidence of their involvement in any alleged activities. It is a matter of record that the government has publicly stated that it has taken members of the proscribed organisations in “protective custody” after the Pulwama incident, which clearly indicates that Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has not spoken against the interests of Pakistan, as alleged by certain vested interests rather reminded the government of its responsibilities. Those who are propagating against PPP are actually fearful of PPP. The critics must know that PPP under Bilawal Bhutto is intelligently forcing its way in politics with more political maturity as compared to other parties. Shaheed ZA Bhutto thank you for giving us nuclear bomb as you are not physically present but your vision of defence of the country is defending the country with your undeterred nuclear programme.

It was shocking for the entire nation when this judicial murder was announced on 4th April. The nation witnessed gloomy atmosphere in the whole country. The biggest critics of ZA Bhutto also did not like his hanging. It was indeed a sad day for the nation to have lost a visionary leader and he was innocent as I have stated above what the old files are testimony to this judicial murder. We all pray May God bless his soul in peace.

The writer is Chairman of think tank "Global Eye" & former interior minister of Pakistan.

Email: rmalik1212@gmail.com, Twitter @Senrehmanmalik, @GlobalEye_GSA, WhatsApp +923325559393