UN report leaves Zardari as the most logical suspect in the Benazir murder case?

[Luftwaffe]

this is the video

 

[fatman17]

Musharraf aide calls UN's Bhutto report 'lies'

By MUNIR AHMED Associated Press Writer
Posted: 04/16/2010 01:20:34 AM PDT
Updated: 04/16/2010 01:43:51 AM PDT


ISLAMABAD—A U.N. report on the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is a "pack of lies" that wrongly implicates ex-President Pervez Musharraf and Pakistan's security forces for not stopping her killing, an aide to Musharraf said Friday.

Bhutto was killed in a Dec. 27, 2007, gun and suicide-bomb attack as she was leaving a rally in Rawalpindi city, where she was campaigning to return her Pakistan People's Party to power in elections after returning from nearly nine years in self-imposed exile.

The three-member U.N. panel said her death could have been avoided if Musharraf's government and various security agencies had taken adequate measures. It also found that the probe into her death was deliberately hampered by intelligence agencies and other officials.

The report, released Thursday, was hailed by the PPP, which now governs Pakistan and is headed by President Asif Ali Zardari, Bhutto's widower. Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said the report backed up the People's Party's belief that Musharraf or his allies were responsible for Bhutto's death.

But Rashid Qureshi, a Musharraf aide, insisted that the U.N. report was based on rumors and that Musharraf was in no way responsible.

"This chief U.N. investigator was not the relative of Sherlock Homes," Qureshi said, noting that Musharraf himself had been the target of suicide attackers.

The head of the country's most powerful spy agency, Inter-Services
Intelligence, warned Bhutto not to attend the rally because of looming threats of an attack, Qureshi said.

"But Benazir Bhutto and her chief security officer Rehman Malik decided to go ahead with their planned election rally," Qureshi said. "It was Benazir Bhutto who exposed herself to the attacker."

 

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

lets evalute the westren media reports from a neutral prospective.

Bhutto assassination could have been avoided, UN report finds

Pakistan officials condemned for failing to protect Benazir Bhutto or investigate her death properly
Pakistan's intelligence services are condemned in a devastating report by a United Nations inquiry into the assassination three years ago of the former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

The report, published last night, failed to identify who was behind the assassination but concluded that Bhutto's death could have been avoided if proper security measures had been in place.

It claimed that the Pakistan police lied to a Scotland Yard forensic team that was called in to help.

The intelligence services were heavily criticised for their role in the mishandled investigation. "The investigation was severely hampered by intelligence agencies and other government officials, which impeded an unfettered search for the truth," the report said.

Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has long been controversial because of its ambiguous nature, with some of its senior staff having close links to the Taliban and other extremist groups.

Bhutto, who had returned earlier that year from political exile, was killed by a teenage suicide bomber in Rawalpindi in December 2007. A group linked to al-Qaida was blamed. General Pervez Musharraf was president at the time.

The UN commission of inquiry began work in July last year, headed by the Chilean ambassador to the UN, Heraldo Muñoz and supported by Marzuki Darusman, a former attorney-general of Indonesia, and Peter Fitzgerald, a veteran of the Irish police.

The 70-page report, which described the behaviour of the police as "deeply flawed", concluded that Bhutto could have been protected if adequate measures had been taken.

"The responsibility for Ms Bhutto's security on the day of her assassination rested with the federal government, the government of Punjab and the Rawalpindi district police," it said. "None of these entities took the necessary measures to respond to the extraordinary, fresh and urgent security risks that they knew she faced."

The damning part of the report is the UN team's claim of a cover-up. It said it was "mystified by the efforts of certain high-ranking Pakistani government authorities to obstruct access to military and intelligence sources".

A forensic team from Scotland Yard was involved in the investigation but the commission said its remit was narrow and it had to take much on good faith from the Pakistan police. The commission said the police had lied to Scotland Yard.

"That good faith was, in many respects, abused by officers of the Rawalpindi district police, particularly with respect to security arrangements. The commission's inquiry shows the accounts of the Rawalpindi police provided to Scotland Yard to be largely untrue."

The commission was baffled that the Rawalpindi police hosed down the crime scene within an hour of the murder, destroying almost all potential evidence.

The ISI is one of the most powerful organisations in Pakistan, with a pervasive reach. The commission found that the ISI conducted a parallel investigation into the killing, gathering evidence and detaining suspects.

The commission said it believed that the failure of the police to investigate Bhutto's assassination effectively was deliberate. "These officials, in part fearing intelligence agencies' involvement, were unsure of how vigorously they ought to pursue actions, which they knew, as professionals, they should have taken."

The commission does not say why the ISI hampered the investigation but offers a hint. "Given the historical and possibly continuing relationships between intelligence agencies and some radical Islamist groups that engage in extremist violence, the agencies could be compromised in their investigations of crimes possibly carried out by such groups." it says.

The UN commission recommends reform of the police and the intelligence services. While every country needs a strong intelligence service, "the autonomy, pervasive reach and clandestine role of intelligence agencies in Pakistani life underlie many of the problems, omissions and commissions set out in this report. The actions of politicised intelligence agencies undermine democratic governance."

Bhutto assassination could have been avoided, UN report finds | World news | guardian.co.uk

 

[TaimiKhan]

Musharraf aide calls UN's Bhutto report 'lies'

By MUNIR AHMED Associated Press Writer
Posted: 04/16/2010 01:20:34 AM PDT
Updated: 04/16/2010 01:43:51 AM PDT


ISLAMABAD—A U.N. report on the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is a "pack of lies" that wrongly implicates ex-President Pervez Musharraf and Pakistan's security forces for not stopping her killing, an aide to Musharraf said Friday.

Bhutto was killed in a Dec. 27, 2007, gun and suicide-bomb attack as she was leaving a rally in Rawalpindi city, where she was campaigning to return her Pakistan People's Party to power in elections after returning from nearly nine years in self-imposed exile.

The three-member U.N. panel said her death could have been avoided if Musharraf's government and various security agencies had taken adequate measures. It also found that the probe into her death was deliberately hampered by intelligence agencies and other officials.

The report, released Thursday, was hailed by the PPP, which now governs Pakistan and is headed by President Asif Ali Zardari, Bhutto's widower. Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said the report backed up the People's Party's belief that Musharraf or his allies were responsible for Bhutto's death.

But Rashid Qureshi, a Musharraf aide, insisted that the U.N. report was based on rumors and that Musharraf was in no way responsible.

"This chief U.N. investigator was not the relative of Sherlock Homes," Qureshi said, noting that Musharraf himself had been the target of suicide attackers.

The head of the country's most powerful spy agency, Inter-Services
Intelligence, warned Bhutto not to attend the rally because of looming threats of an attack, Qureshi said.

"But Benazir Bhutto and her chief security officer Rehman Malik decided to go ahead with their planned election rally," Qureshi said. "It was Benazir Bhutto who exposed herself to the attacker."

I believe the red part is what was required, and not the UN report or other drama.

If Bhutto hadn't exposed herself, today things would have been different.

No matter what kind of security you provide, if the target himself/herself exposes themselves, then no matter if you even provide state of the art technology, the assassin will succeed.

Take history, Kennedy assassination & his brothers, Regan assassination attempt, Pope's assassination attempt, Gandhi family members assassinations, Sri Lankan leaders assassination attempts etc etc etc, in all the assassination to some extend or fully succeeded, even though top of the line intelligence or security was provided, but when you expose yourself, you are in the assassins sights, from there fate takes over, either you die or you are saved.

If Bhutto hadn't shown herself out of the vehicle, things would have been different and she may had been alive.

The bomb did not killed her, she was killed either by the bullet or by what the govt said, and Zardari's refusal for letting a postmortem done, makes us not know the real cause of her death.

 

[ahmed_naj]

^^ couldnt agree more, whats the point having an armoured vehicle if you're gonna expose yourself? No one forced her to comeout of the sunroof.

 

[qsaark]

But Rashid Qureshi, a Musharraf aide, insisted that the UN report was based on rumors and that Musharraf was in no way responsible.

Chor ki darhi mein tinka... who said Musharraf was responsible? The report said 'Musharraf government' and it said 'Musharraf Government' because it was him and only him who was running the government.

“This chief UN investigator was not the relative of Sherlock Homes,” Qureshi said, noting that Musharraf himself had been the target of suicide attackers.

This person was promoted to the rank of a General and this is his understanding/impression about the Chief UN inspector. So Qureshi will only accept a report if it was prepared by a relative of Sherlock Holmes? We all know that Inspector Sherlock Holmes was an imaginary character so in other words, Qureshi is suggesting that any report prepared by a 'real' human being will bot be accepted.

 

[qsaark]

Take history, Kennedy assassination & his brothers, Regan assassination attempt, Pope's assassination attempt, Gandhi family members assassinations, Sri Lankan leaders assassination attempts etc etc etc, in all the assassination to some extend or fully succeeded, even though top of the line intelligence or security was provided, but when you expose yourself, you are in the assassins sights, from there fate takes over, either you die or you are saved.

You forgot to include the assassination of Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan. In all the above mentioned cases, intelligence was either flawed or the agencies responsible for the security failed to appreciate the gravity of the threat as proposed or informed by the intelligence agencies. Mind you that all above mentioned cases were one of their kind and similar examples had not existed before the actual incidences.

The fact that 22 bodies other than of BB were not postmortemed, and the evidences were immediately removed/destroyed by the Police/intelligence agencies indicates that the whole thing was more than just a drama and the responsibility goes to no one but to the Musharraf regime and if Musharraf regime was not accompliced, why immediate and appropriate action was not taken against those officials who destroyed the evidence?

If Bhutto hadn't shown herself out of the vehicle, things would have been different and she may had been alive.

No one made this argument when Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan was assassinated, you know why? Benazir was a leader just like Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan, and unlike a coward usurper General, she had to mingle with her supporters/voters as that is exactly what is expected from the Political leaders. Now it was the responsibility of the government to provide her with a safe and secure atmosphere or have told her in written clearly that she must avoid such contacts otherwise the government would not be responsible for something unfortunate. Did Musharraf regime give her or her security advisors any such warning based on intelligence reports in writing?

 

[SSGPA1]

I am proud of the members of this forum. I though there will be a whole lot of anti Musharraf dialogue here but I am glad to see that even the anti Musharraf members understand that this is a bias report.

I would add though that this report is bias but not because of UN staff but because the investigation started after a year and because PPPP has its own people in key position.

 

[qsaark]

I would add though that this report is bias but not because of UN staff but because the investigation started after a year and because PPPP has its own people in key position.

This report or any other report following this will remain inconclusive because all the evidences were already destroyed soon after the assassination of the Benazir and those who destroyed the evidence were never prosecuted as to why and under whose orders they did that. The responsibility of destroying the evidence does not go to the present regime but to the able regime of former dictator Perwaiz Musharraf.

Any report that will be prepared by any agency, national or international will include the questions on the destruction of the evidence and as a consequence, every report will be bias and unacceptable for the former dictator's supporters.

 

[EyelessInGaza]

While some Pakistani members may think the report is weak and/ or an eyewash, I think it is important simply because it is a matter of record, rather than the conspiracy theories that dog events like these years after they are over.

For all its weaknesses, the UN report is now institutionalized historical memory that carries the stamp of neutrality. Better than the conspiracy theories any day.

The one thing I find puzzling, damning almost, is the hosing down of the crime scene. The police officer who ordered it has been identified, AFAIK. He should be in the dock, singing like a canary, because he carries with him an important part of what happened that day. But it's not likely to happen is it?

 

[BATMAN]

By which Pakistani or international law govt. of Pakistan was responsible for the security of Benazir?

She was in the middle of unknown public, does she need advisor to know this is injuerous to health, specially when she felt threatened!
on top of that she stopped her bullet proof car in the middle of crowd and stood up from sunroof!
Clearly her brain was not working..... and her post martem was extremely vital to know the type of drug she was on.
Now no one knows if she died of bullet wound or poison.
Her personal security responsible Rehman Malik, barred state security officer from boarding her vehicle.
Later appearing vedios show that her security officer named shah was sending out suspicious signals (generally used for ordering murder) to some one in crowd and later him self was killed while he was suppose to provide utmost security by the than PPP cheif.

 

[SSGPA1]

Any report that will be prepared by any agency, national or international will include the questions on the destruction of the evidence and as a consequence, every report will be bias and unacceptable for the former dictator's supporters.

I agree 100% when you say that it is the responsibility of the govt. to provide security to BB but what can one do when she trusts her own security chief more and decides to stand outside her jeep.

I also agree that she is a popular leader but if the ISI chief is providing you with warnings the night before and after that she decides to take ADDITIONAL risk of getting outside her jeep then who is responsible.

In her jeep, Ameen Fahim, Sherry Rehman and others were present and they were all saved as they were not exposed to the killers.

Also note that a post mortem was denied to her at the orders of Zardari because it was 'against out traditions'. Is this an enough excuse to deny post mortem to BB?

Who benefited the most from her murder? Zardari and his family. For the first time in Bhuttos' history, their land is under control of Zaradri and managed by Mrs. Talpur (a sister of Zardari). THEY HAVE ACHIEVED WHAT BRITS COULDN'T ACHIEVE!

Zaradri becomes the co-chairperson of PPPP and kindly don't blame the NRO as it has nothing to do with Zardari becoming the chief of the PPPP.

Now look at others who benefited as well? The IMF is also another beneficiary of BB's death.

So blaming everything on Musharraf govt. is bias.

 

[DesiGuy]

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Friday welcomed a report by a UN-appointed panel which said the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto could have been averted.



Farhatullah Babar, a spokesman for President Zardari, said in a statement “the Pakistan Peoples Party welcomes this endorsement as the main thrust of the UN report”.



The independent panel Thursday said the 2007 murder of Bhutto was avoidable and the authorities deliberately failed to properly investigate her death.



“The report takes note of not immediately cordoning off the crime scene, washing the crime scene within one hour and forty minutes of the blast and the collection of only 23 pieces of evidence, in a case where one would normally have expected thousands, endorsing the suspicion voiced by the party at the time”, Babar said.



“Persons named in the report for negligence or complicity in the conspiracy will be investigated and cases also brought against them in the light of the legal opinion,” he added.


Earlier today, state television quoted Babar as saying that government was investigating her assassination.



“The government is not oblivious to its duties and it is investigating the murder of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto,” Babar was quoted as saying.



Farahnaz Ispahani, another Zardari aide, said that “the report will pave the way for a proper police investigation and possible penal proceedings.”—Agencies

DAWN.COM | Pakistan | Pakistan welcomes UN report on Bhutto assassination

 

[Barrett]

Dr.Shahid Masood's show on Benazir's death anniversary

Highly Recommended

 

[qsaark]

CPO (City Police Officer) Saud Aziz destroyed the evidence under the direct orders of MI Chief Maj. Gen. Nadeem Ejaz. Saud Aziz also prevented Senior Physician Prof. Musaddiq from carrying out a postmortem on Benazir.




Source: Jang Group Online