BHUTTO TRIAL AND EXECUTION Victoria Schofield Reproduced by Sani H. Panhwar Member Sindh Council, PPP COTETS PREFACE .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 1 ITRODUCTIO .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 3 1 MILITARY RULE .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 15 2 THE TRIAL .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 22 3 SOLITARY COFIEMET .. .. .. .. .. 44 4 LIE-UP FOR THE APPEAL .. .. .. .. .. 52 5 I DEFECE OF BHUTTO .. .. .. .. .. 62 6 THE REJOIDER .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 83 7 POLITICAL ACTIVITY .. .. .. .. .. .. 103 8 THE CASE FOR THE PROSECUTIO .. .. .. .. 112 9 THE DEFECE’S RIGHT OF REPLY .. .. .. .. 122 10 BHUTTO’S APPEARACE .. .. .. .. .. 128 11 WAITIG FOR JUDGMET .. .. .. .. .. 146 12 THE FIAL ACT .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 157 EPILOGUE .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 177 PREFACE No one is going to find it easy to write about the life of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto To get at the truth a historian will have to steer his way between the views of enemies and friends alike In Pakistan, as in many other countries, there is a tendency to create a cult around a political figure which hides his faults. But there is also the tendency, once the figure is no longer in the ascendancy, to erase the cult, by fair means or foul With Zulfikar Ali Bhutto the two processes were going on at the same time and no doubt will continue to do so The historian will have to distance himself and take a middle path with the man as he was, in the circumstances which prevailed Undoubtedly he will go down in history as a controversial figure and a great leader. The basic controversy lies between whether he was a dictator, as his enemies like to portray him, who ruined the country, caused the break-up of Pakistan in 1971 and brought the remaining half to the verge of economic disaster, and whose arrogance was surpassed by none; or whether he was a brilliant politician from a rich land-owning family who was inspired by socialist ideals and who determined against all odds to create a modern industrial society, a man who had ambitions with which he wished to inspire his countrymen in order to restore the morale and dignity of Pakistan after defeat in war. There are many who believe this latter view to be the correct one. But they add a few important riders: they admit but excuse the arrogance of a talented man; they also concede there was a degree of autocracy but regard this as acceptable in a country unused to the democratic process; but they see the biggest failure in his régime which brought Bhutto himself to his death, in the people who surrounded him: sycophants and fortune- seekers whose loyalty to him was only skin deep, particularly in the Army and the bureaucracy. As with other popular leaders who have fallen, the people who genuinely did support him were help less against the might of military régime which took over. Bhutto was highly intelligent, astute, energetic, hardworking and, above all, one of the most effective leaders of Pakistan, whose success was undoubtedly envied by many. At all times his opponents sought to prove that he had a motive to destroy one of his political opponents but very few carefully examined the obvious motives which people had to do away with him: personal dislike combined with jealousy, religious fanaticism, abhorrence of socialist policies which affected them adversely provided a sufficiently strong incentive for those who hated him to want to destroy him. The sycophants looked on as the wind changed direction. Every unrelated action of his subordinates was given a suspicious interpretation and alleged to have come from the Prime Minister. No effort was made to assume that he might in fact, have been innocent. Putting events into perspective, his death was inevitable. Those who were blinded by hope, optimism and trust in the judicial institutions of the country only saw at the end that from the beginning the minds of the military authorities were already made up. The judicial process merely prolonged the agony and uncertainty. No one could honestly say Bhutto Trial and Execution; Copyright www.bhutto.org 1 that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was sent to death for his alleged part in a murder; he was sent to death because in the political climate of Pakistan at the time, the people who had the power wanted him out of the way. Other wise mercy could easily have been shown by the executive authorities. What deliberations they did have must have been over whether or not they would be able to get away with it. They scorned Bhutto’s own claim that Pakistan would fragment if he, as the unifying spirit, were to be executed. But only if there is a long period of calm in a free society, unpolluted and unrestrained by the force of martial law, can he be said to have been proved wrong. At present the military authorities, keeping a tight hold on the country, do not show themselves the least bit anxious to put this claim to the test. Such an obvious political motive makes the whole campaign against Bhutto appear as the product of those who detested him. Pakistan was angered by the amount of world attention focused on Bhutto’s trial, pointing to the revolutionary measures adopted in neighbouring countries such as Iran and Afghanistan in comparison with its own judicial process. When the question is put, why was there such interest in the trial of the former Prime Minister, the answer must inevitably come that more was expected from a country protesting its adherence to British common law traditions than that they would contemplate hanging their former Prime Minister on a split verdict where three out of seven judges said he should be acquitted. I should like to thank Benazir Bhutto for her hospitality and kindness and generosity at a time when her life took a tragic and dramatic turn from her carefree days as a student at Oxford, to those of political turbulence and the death of her father in Pakistan. I should also like to pay my respects to Mr. Bhutto’s team of lawyers whose exhausting struggle I observed from close quarters Mr. Yahya Bakhtiar, the late Ghulam Ali Memon, Mr. D.M. Awan, Mr. Hafeez Lakho, Mr. Mohammed Sharif and Mr. Saleem Khan. I should like to thank Mr. Awan in particular, for his help and advice over the legal aspects. My thanks also go to the friends I had in Islamabad who assisted me emotionally during this time: in particular the family of Mr. Bhutto’s dentist, Dr Niazi, and Gustavo Toro of the United Nations for their kindness. I am also grateful to the journalists I met who gave advice and encouragement to an aspirant member of their profession. However, all views and conclusions in this book are mine alone and I take sole responsibility for them. Finally I should like to thank my parents who bore with the emotional uncertainty of my absence in a country ruled by martial law when my own activities, as a friend of Benazir, were under surveillance twenty-four hours a day. I am also grateful to my mother who, receiving chapter by chapter in the post, typed this manuscript. All views contained in this book are my own. Victoria Schofield Islamabad, Pakistan April 1979 Bhutto Trial and Execution; Copyright www.bhutto.org 2 ITRODUCTIO Before the dawn of a warm, sunny day in April 1979 Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged. Of Pakistan’s line of rulers since its painful birth in 1947 one died prematurely, one was assassinated, another exiled, one died of old age. But only one has ever been hanged. No one could have predicted that the end of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto would come with the hangman’s noose. In proceedings lasting a year and a half Bhutto was tried, found guilty of conspiracy to murder and sentenced to death. Throughout, the former Prime Minister maintained his innocence in such a manner as to cast eternal doubt on the verdict given. At the height of his power Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was a well respected and internationally esteemed leader. He was polished, articulate and had a brilliant mind, with enough savoir-faire to tackle any political situation. He was heralded both inside and outside Pakistan as the man the country needed to keep it together. Most people assumed that he would rule Pakistan for a long time to come. ‘I think I’ll last longer than anyone else who’s governed Pakistan,’ he said, soon after he became President in 1971. But he did not; before the decade was over, he was dead. The circumstances surrounding his downfall are unique. It appeared to be more than just part of the game. According to those who supported the former Prime Minister, there was a political conspiracy against the undisputed leader of the people to overthrow him; moreover, the fight for his life became an event of world-wide importance to such an extent that people continually asked just what was so special about Bhutto. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was born into politics on 5 January 1928 in Larkana, a small village in the province of Sindh. He had a politician for a father and a mother who was deeply concerned about the poverty of the masses. Almost, as it were, he developed his theory of the ‘politics of poverty’ from his parents. He was also born rich, of a wealthy land- owning family which gave him the opportunities and advantages, combined with his own talents, to reach his goal. As a leader he had charisma. He emerged on the political scene in Pakistan when the morale of the people was low. He could fire the people’s imagination with his magnetic dynamism and his enthusiasm.