Chowrangi

Initial reports said that Benazir Bhutto died due to a bullet in the head and another one in the neck. Now the government spokesman says that she was killed neither by bullets nor by the bomb. It seems she fell and her head struck a lever in the vehicle in which she was traveling.

I remember a similar confusion regarding her father’s death, after he was hanged in Rawalpindi. The government said that he had been hanged by Tarah Masih, the official executioner, and there were reports that her father (Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto) had strongly resisted being taken to the gallows. In fact, he had been quite sure that the government would never dare hang him, as he believed that the masses would come out on the streets if it did. As it turned out, there were practically no protests in the country after his execution. But his supporters always said that he was not hanged, but beaten to death in his cell. To this day, you still come across people who believe this.

Now it seems that the real cause of Benazir Bhutto’s death will never be known. But the extensive damage caused by her followers following death is surprising. When her father was hanged, the government had ensured that any protest would be dealt with sternly. This time, the government was not prepared and many innocent people have died as a result.

Other posts by Shakir Lakhani

• No limit on foreign exchange taken out of Pakistan - November 12th, 2008
• Some questions about the "forex" scandal - November 11th, 2008
• Enjoying life after sixty - November 7th, 2008
• A Hussein in the White House - November 5th, 2008
• Why are poor Pakistanis always punished? - October 31st, 2008
• Pakistan's Economic Crisis: we're responsible - October 29th, 2008
• How Wall Street operates - October 23rd, 2008
• We’ll always have corruption - October 19th, 2008
• If Pakistan goes to war with United States of America - October 9th, 2008
• Killing of Christians in Secular India - October 1st, 2008