Investigation concludes
Developments in the Benazir Bhutto murder investigation have always had a glacial speed. The conclusion of the current JIT investigation also names the same people again. The difference: the government now says it will try to apprehend former president Pervez Musharraf through Interpol. Though this development received most of the attention, the actual significant development is the naming of the premises of the Jamia Darul Uloom Haqqania in Akora Khattak as being the venue of the planning. The interior minister was careful in his briefing at the Sindh Assembly in not directly implicating Maulana Sami-ul-Haq who runs the seminary but he did throw in a word of caution to him and all other seminaries to ensure such types of activities are not facilitated there.
Also named is the dreaded Qari Hussain, popularised by the media as the Baba-e-Fidaeen. Not related to just the BB murder case in particular, the Qari has at his disposal the militants’ most potent weapon yet: the suicide bomber. The apprehension of this individual is linked to cases other than this one.
Another person called in is former Sindh chief minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim, who had made a curious and cryptic statement on the eve of the former prime minister’s murder. They will beat the drums during the day and will cry after sunset when the lights are out. Now, it is still not known whether his situation was a monkey-with-a-typewriter but he must be asked to explain his position.
Former president Musharraf, who had a telephonic rally at Karachi recently, has more reasons to defer his return to the country. After the interior minister’s address to the legislators in Karachi, he brushed off the allegations and maintained that the responsibility was that of the provincial government and the PPP itself. If the generalissimo is indeed so certain of his innocence and if he isn’t really scared (as he has reminded anyone who would listen ad nauseum), it is perhaps time he should come back and face up to the charges against him.