Was Bhutto killed before hanging? Sadiq Jafri Reproduced By: Sani Hussain Panhwar Member Sindh Council, PPP Was Bhutto Killed before hanging Copyright © www.bhutto.org 1 Dedicated To My son, bahawal, who may see the dawn of freedom of expression, when he grows up. Was Bhutto Killed before hanging Copyright © www.bhutto.org 2 Author’s Note Completing this work was a herculean task given the fierce antagonism of our ubiquitous Intelligence agencies. In fact many developments occurred as this piece was going to the press. For one, shortly before the printing began, an interview, with Murtaza Bhutto was splashed across the pages of the News, covering three pages. After the forceful projection of that interview, it would be an uphill task for me to convince readers about the antecedents --- or the lack of them of the AZO, to the public. It is amid these constraints that I have after all got the work ready for the reader’s consumption. I hope now the credibility of the product of the sweat of my brow shall find favour with all those who seek the truth. Was Bhutto Killed before hanging Copyright © www.bhutto.org 3 Contents Introduction by “Zeno” .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 6 The controversy .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 7 Geri Arbab .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 13 Imprisonment .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 16 Old jail .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 19 Hypothesis .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 21 Gen Chishti .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 25 The lieutenant .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 27 Error .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 33 The jailors .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 37 Roger, Roger, Black Horse Over! .. .. .. .. .. .. 43 Executioners execute execution .. .. .. .. .. .. 52 Finish it !!! .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 54 Top secret .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 56 The burial .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 64 Shaheed Baba .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 68 Janaza .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 74 Eyewitnesses .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 75 The mark .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 76 Justice .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 82 Was Bhutto Killed before hanging Copyright © www.bhutto.org 4 Forensic .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 83 Daughter .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 89 Photographs .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 93 Restraint .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 96 The higher you fly, the harder you fall .. .. .. .. .. 100 Epilogue .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 104 Was Bhutto Killed before hanging Copyright © www.bhutto.org 5 Introduction This book is about a ghost that has been haunting the ruling classes of Pakistan for more than a decade — the ghost of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. In the eyes of General Zia-ul-Haq and his junta, Bhutto had been eliminated and become a ghost, as soon as he was removed from power. They thought his politics and policies had been wiped out, and along with them his role in Pakistan’s history. Yet this was not to be. With his execution, or assassination, which ever interpretation be given to Bhutto’s death on the night of April 3/4, 1979, he became a permanent affliction for Pakistan’s rulers. For the first two years that Zia was in power all time and energy was spent in getting rid of Bhutto physically. After that the next nine or ten years were taken up by his effort to somehow exorcise Bhutto’s uncontrollably obsessive ghost. Until his own death in that horrifying plane crash in August 1988, Zia had not been able to find a way to get rid of that ghost. Bhutto has by now become a perpetual element in Pakistan’s political life. The successors of Zia, and their associates, who have tried to continue his policies and programme, are faced by this, like him, as the first item on their agenda — how to free themselves of this unquiet spirit. For the last fifteen years or so the ruling classes of this country have tried to do this with all the forces and institutions at their command: the army, the bureaucracy, the judiciary, the Intelligence, the police, the press, have all been yoked to the task of carrying out this one supreme purpose, but have failed to do so. They have failed for a very simple reason. Bhutto’s revolutionary policies and programme, which Zia and his associates tried to defeat, are the basic tasks on the agenda of the present era of history in Pakistan, and hence cannot be defeated. As he had said on one triumphant occasion in his life —”Nobody can kill the revolution.” Hence his ghost cannot be laid. Bhutto’s ghost has ruled Pakistan’s political life since his death. It will go on doing so until his programme is fulfilled. This book is an account of how that ghost came into being, and how tenaciously it has endured since. It is a thrilling narrative. —”Zeno” Was Bhutto Killed before hanging Copyright © www.bhutto.org 6 The controversy “To the question put up by Paul two thousand years ago: “O death, where is thy sting?”, there are many answers. I will choose one which applied to Ali Bhutto’s death and which I borrow from our philosopher Auguste Comte. It is this: “The dead continue to govern the living”.” Thus said Valery Giscard d’Estaing, former President of France, in a message sent to the international seminar on the legacy of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto at Karachi on April 4, 1989. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was one of the most controversial figures of our political history even when he was alive. People either loved him or hated him. They still do so. It seems that “pro-Bhutto” and “anti-Bhutto” forces have been working in full swing from Day One. Intensity and forcefulness are the only common characteristics between the two sides. And it has been something bigger than the usual game of our politics. So big that can easily divide our history between pre- Bhutto and post-Bhutto parts. Although dead, does Bhutto continue to govern the living? This has been the most controversial question to date. Mr. Bhutto himself was quite aware of his controversial value. He says in his book If I am Assassinated:- “When I came back from Simla with laudable accomplishments, the opposition accused me of “a sell out.” When I returned from the United States with the ten year old arms embargo lifted, instead of complimenting me, the opposition made the false charge that I had granted a base to the United States in Baluchistan. When I increased the military and economic collaboration with Iran and the Shahinshah of Iran provided aid of one billion dollars in addition to the joint industrial projects, the opposition told the lie that bogus secret agreement had been made with Iran on oil concessions in Pakistan.” As with his life, the manner of his death has been a subject of great controversy right from the day of his execution in the now-demolished District Jail Rawalpindi on April 3/4, 1979. Even the order for his execution was not an ordinary one. The then Punjab Home Secretary S. K. Mahmood issued an express order to the Provincial Prisons Department for the execution of Mr. Bhutto, which read:- Was Bhutto Killed before hanging Copyright © www.bhutto.org 7 “The condemned prisoner Mr. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, s/o Sir Shahnawaz Bhutto, should be hanged to death on April 4 at 2 am and relevant rules which debar the hanging at 2 am are hereby suspended.” The Zia government announced he had been hanged according to the orders. However, many said that he was tortured to death before his hanging, and they were not necessarily his family members or supporters. After Mr. Bhutto’s execution, the Daily Telegraph London correspondent present in Islamabad said in his report: “Senior public figures I have spoken to in the past few weeks seem persuaded that something went amiss that afternoon... It is believed that on the eve of his hanging, Mr. Bhutto was severely tortured in an attempt to extract from him a confession to the crime for which he was to be executed. It is claimed that the torture attempt failed, but that when he was taken to the gallows, Mr. Bhutto was already half dead.” The Daily Express, London, ran a story on May 21, 1979, under the caption: Was Bhutto’s hanging a cover for murder? In an exclusive story, Robert Eddison wrote that Zia asked army officers to extract a handwritten “confession” from Mr. Bhutto before he died. “Mr. Bhutto was to admit ordering the murder of a one-time political opponent but he continually refused and two kicks killed him. “The Army officers panicked, since his death had defeated their plan to hang him later that week. Zia ordered them to have his body carried to the gallows on a stretcher.” And further: “Major Iftikhar Ahmad, a Cornier Pakistani army officer said in London that staff members of Rawalpindi jail had said in letters to the Bhutto family that they heard cries from Mr. Bhutto’s cell on the night of April 3. At 10 pm they suddenly ceased.” Ms Benazir Bhutto writes in her autobiography Daughter of the East, in the chapter ‘The assassination of my father’: “Rumours quickly began to circulate about my father’s death. He had been tortured almost to death and, with only the barest flicker of a pulse, had been carried on a stretcher to his hanging. Another persistent report claimed that my father had died during a fight in his cell. Was Bhutto Killed before hanging Copyright © www.bhutto.org 8 “I tended to believe this story. Why else had my father’s body shown no physical signs of a hanging?” (Pages 13/14) On the other hand, quite a few very responsible persons belonging to Zia’s regime, such as Lt Gen (retd) Faiz Ali Chishti, admit that a propaganda campaign had been launched by Zia himself to the effect that Mr. Bhutto had been tortured or even killed in his death cell before his hanging. In Mr. Bhutto’s words, Mr Chishti was “the General who executed the coup and put the lollipop of power into the mouth of the Chief of the Army Staff.” On the back cover of his book Betrayals of Another Kind, Lt-Gen (retd) Faiz Ali Chishti, introduces himself in these words:- “As Corps Commander of Rawalpindi division, he actually executed OPERATION FAIRPLAY, which brought Mr.