On 27 December 2007 former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in the city of Rawalpindi while campaigning ahead of elections that were to take place in 2008. Even though the assassination was captured on film no one was charged with her killing until today almost four full years after her death.
Look at who was charged a former police chief and five members of the Taliban.
If not for Pakistan and its Inter Service Intelligence the Taliban would have never existed
Chaudhry Azhar, the public prosecutor, said the judge of the anti-terrorist court read out the indictment on Saturday in the presence of the accused who denied the charges. The proceedings were held in a high security prison in Rawalpindi.
Look at who was charged a former police chief and five members of the Taliban.
Benazir Bhutto had just addressed a rally of Pakistan Peoples Party supporters in the city of Rawalpindi when the rally was rocked by a blast. Bhutto was leaving the rally when the attack occurred.[5] Initial police reports stated that one or more assassins fired at Bhutto's bulletproofwhite Toyota Land Cruiser just as she was about to drive off after the rally.[23] A suicide bomber detonating a bomb next to her vehicle followed.[24] According to Getty Images photographer John Moore, Bhutto was standing through her vehicle's sunroof to wave at supporters, and fell back inside after two gunshots.[7][25] The Times of India aired an amateur clip showing the assassin firing three gun shots at Bhutto before the blast.[26]Following the incident, an unconscious Bhutto was taken to the Rawalpindi General Hospital at 17:35 local time,[27] where doctors led by Rawalpindi Medical College Principal Mohammad Musaddiq Khan tried to resuscitate her, performing a "left anterolateral thoracotomy for open cardiac massage".[28] Sadiq Khan, Mohammad Khan's father, had tried to save Liaquat Ali Khan when he was assassinated in the same park and rushed to the same hospital in 1951.[29] Although Pakistan Peoples Party spokesman Farhatullah Babar initially said that Bhutto was safe, she was declared dead at 18:16 local time
If not for Pakistan and its Inter Service Intelligence the Taliban would have never existed
The "vast majority" of the Taliban's rank and file and most of the leadership, though not Mullah Omar, were Koranic students who had studied at madrasas set up for Afghan refugees, usually by JUI. Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman, JUI's leader, was a political ally of Benazir Bhutto. After Bhutto became prime minister, Rehman "had access to the government, the army and the ISI," whom he influenced to help the Taliban.[145]Pakistan's ISI supported the previously unknown Kandahari student movement,[146] the Taliban, as the group conquered Afghanistan in the 1990s.[147]From 1994 onwards Pakistan has been the force behind the Taliban. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf – then as Chief of Army Staff – was responsible for sending thousands of Pakistanis to fight alongside the Taliban and Bin Laden against the forces of Massoud.[13][16][44][45] In total there were believed to be 28,000 Pakistani nationals fighting inside Afghanistan.[16] 20,000 were regular Pakistani soldiers either from the Frontier Corps or army and an estimated 8,000 were militants recruited in madrassas filling regular Taliban ranks.[14]The estimated 25,000 Taliban regular force thus comprised more than 8,000 Pakistani nationals.[14][46] A 1998 document by the U.S. State Department confirms that "20–40 percent of [regular] Taliban soldiers are Pakistani."[13] The document further states that the parents of those Pakistani nationals "know nothing regarding their child's military involvement with the Taliban until their bodies are brought back to Pakistan."[13] Further 3,000 fighters of the regular Taliban army were Arab and Central Asian militants.[14] Of roughly 45,000 Pakistani, Taliban and Al Qaeda soldiers fighting against the forces of Massoud only 14,000 were Afghan.[14][16]Human Rights Watch also writes, "Pakistani aircraft assisted with troop rotations of Taliban forces during combat operations in late 2000 and ... senior members of Pakistan's intelligence agency and army were involved in planning military operations."[148] Pakistan provided military equipment, recruiting assistance, training, and tactical advice.[149] Officially Pakistan denied supporting the Taliban militarily.
Chaudhry Azhar, the public prosecutor, said the judge of the anti-terrorist court read out the indictment on Saturday in the presence of the accused who denied the charges. The proceedings were held in a high security prison in Rawalpindi.
Two police officers, Saud Aziz and Khurrum Shehzad, who were in charge of the security for Bhutto, were accused of negligence by failing to provide adequate protection on the day of the assassination.
The five militants were charged with criminal conspiracy. They allegedly helped the bomber and the gunman.
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