16 years on, the unresolved puzzle of Benazir Bhutto's assassination haunts Pakistan

While tributes pour in from the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and other political leaders in Pakistan commemorating Benazir Bhutto's 16th death anniversary, few seem to actively push for answers regarding her assassination. Why, despite the passage of time, has the hunt for her killers not yielded concrete results, leaving the case shrouded in uncertainty?

Unfortunately, in Pakistan, high-profile assassinations and tragedies rarely receive satisfying closure. Sadly, Benazir Bhutto's case falls into this same pattern.

World’s first Muslim woman prime minister, who twice held the office for incomplete terms in the 1990s and was aiming for a third shot at leadership in 2008 following the end of General Pervez Musharraf's eight year military rule.

Bhutto arrived in Rawalpindi for a rally at Liaquat Bagh, drawing a huge crowd eager to see her potential return to power. As she rose from the sunroof of her white Land Cruiser to wave at the throngs of supporters a 15-year-old member of a banned militant group, Bilal, fired shots at her.

The assassination of Benazir Bhutto on that fateful evening in Liaquat Bagh, Rawalpindi, remains shrouded in mystery. Gunshots pierced the air and a suicide blast erupted moments later, leaving her vehicle riddled with bullet holes and its tires flat.

Amidst the chaos and confusion, bloodstained Bhutto was rushed to Rawalpindi General Hospital on the rims of her Land Cruiser, as all four tires were blown out in a suicide blast immediately following her assassination. Later, she was transferred to a jeep of Sherry Rehman, her close confidante.

She was pronounced dead in the evening at 6:16 PM by the senior physician, Dr Musaddiq Khan. Bhutto’s husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who had returned from Dubai the same evening, refused her post-mortem.

The swift washing of the crime scene, abrupt changes in local bureaucracy, and changes to Benazir Bhutto's route after the rally raised serious concerns. Even the investigations by two international teams, Scotland Yard and the United Nations, failed to provide definitive answers. These events point towards a deliberate attempt to manipulate facts and create lasting ambiguity, perhaps fuelled by the assumption that Pakistan's public grapples with too many trageies to hold onto a single truth for long.

Benazir Bhutto's party remained in power from 2008 to 2013, but could not unravel the mysteries surrounding her assassination. This marked a tragic continuation of unresolved deaths within the Bhutto family, following the execution of her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, by military dictator General Zia-ul-Haq in 1979, and the suspicious deaths of her brothers Shahnawaz Bhutto and Murtaza Bhutto.

Despite prior warnings about assassination threats received by intelligence agencies, her party leadership, and even Benazir Bhutto herself, the security measures at the rally seemed inadequate. This raises concerning questions about negligence and whether more could have been done to protect her. The unanswered "what ifs" surrounding the assassination continue to fuel speculation about the circumstances surrounding her tragic demise.