New Delhi and Islamabad: Senior Pakistani officials have been tying themselves into knots on New Year’s Day, as they try to explain how Benazir's death was an accident.
First, at a briefing with editors of Pakistan's most respected papers, Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz attempted a bit of damage-control over his ministry’s spokesman, Javed Cheema’s remarks, in which Cheema had conceded that Benazir had been felled by a bullet.
Nawaz asked Pakistanis to ignore and forgive Javed Cheema's remarks and maintained that Benazir died of a skull fracture after hitting her head against her Landcruiser’s sunroof lever.
Hours after Cheema’s claim, the Pak government had taken another U-turn where Hamid Nawaz said his earlier apology was only for some crude words that Cheema had used.
Nawaz added that all television footage that appeared to prove Benazir was shot at point blank range was being reviewed, and in the same breath insisted that her death was an accident.
The bottomline remained that the government still believed that Benazir had not been shot.
The Minister told CNN-IBN, “There is no change in the government’s stand – Benazir did not die of a bullet wound.”
“My comments were earlier reported out of context,” added Nawaz.
The question remains whether Hamid Nawaz is confused or is the government – as it is popularly believed – trying to muddle the facts.
The truth can get you killed
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the Punjab province’s Home Deparment issued a front-page advertisement in newspapers offering a reward of Rs 1 crore for information about Benazir’s killers.
The advertisement includes a photo of the assailants, taken from footage that had been first aired by Dawn News channel. The shooter was a clean-shaven young man wearing a white shirt, dark waistcoat and dark glasses and the suspected suicide bomber wore a white cloth wrapped around his face.
Benazir’s widower, Asif Zardari told CNN IBN that she was killed because she had crucial evidence about how the elections slated for January 8 would be rigged.
"There is definitely an ISI hand in rigging the polls. Benazir had been saying that for some time,” Zardari had said, earlier.
Benazir’s former rival Nawaz Sharif corroborated the statement and said that she had had a strong apprehension of rigging in the elections by the military regime and wanted to work out a strategy with him to foil it.
"She told me on phone that she feels Musharraf will rig the elections and we should do something to stop it. This was just two days before her assassination," said Sharif.
He had also said that this information was to be handed over to US diplomats. The information also purportedly contained details about US aid being diverted to help Musharraf win the elections.
Geo TV bureau chief Hamid Mir commented, “The government has realised that the contradictory statements are creating problems for Musharraf.”
Mir added that in Pakistan, there is absolutely no doubt that Benazir had fallen to an assassin’s bullet.
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A new poll game
Controversy is now building up over the election schedule with a final date expected to be declared on Wednesday after the Election Commission consults all the political parties.
The PPP and the PML-N both are against any postponement and have claimed they suspect the Commission may be influenced by Musharraf.
"The postponement in the elections is an excuse to buy time for former General Musharraf's cohorts to come up with means to rig polls to turn the results in their favour," a PPP statement said.
"Delaying polls is just an excuse for the caretaker regime to buy time to invent other means to send the PML-Q back to power. We will not accept that," party spokeswoman Sherry Rehman said in the statement.
PPP Joint Chairman Asif Zardari also pointed out that elections had been held in countries facing war-like situations, including Afghanistan and Iraq.
Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was equally adamant that elections not be postponed.
“We don't want elections to be postponed,” Sharif told CNN-IBN.
Saying that the government’s intentions are not fair, the PML-N President demanded, “What is the authenticity of this Election Commission? All are hand-picked people of Musharraf!”
“Once elections are postponed, they will be postponed indefinitely,” Sharif insisted.
Meanwhile, the PML-Q, which supports President Musharraf, has also said it is ready to take part in the January 8 polls.
However, the Election Commission is demurring about keeping January 8 as Election Day.
A spokesperson said that the law and order situation in four provinces was not conducive for holding elections. Election materials have been badly damaged in 14 districts, the spokesperson said, adding that the Commission needed more time for making adequate preparations.
Other sources in the Election Commission told news agency PTI that the government of Sind has recommended that polls not be held in the month of Moharram which shall begin January 11. Moharram has traditionally seen tensions between the Sunni majority and the Shi’a minority.
February is, thus, being seen and slowly being touted as the more likely time for Elections to be held, with the Election Commission suggesting that February 24 or 25 as the probable dates.
With inputs from PTI
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