The News International
April 10, 1992
Bhutto was tried, executed & buried by Zia: ZAB died on April 3, not on April 4: If at all someone went to Pindi Jail on April 3 to torture Bhutto, it was none else but Zia
Was the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, murdered a day before the facade of hanging took place in Rawalpindi Jail on the 4th of April, 1979? This is the Question that has continuously haunted the curiosity of many, ZAB’s friends and foes alike, endeavoring to arrive at the truth in regards to an act of killing ‘Which remains as unique and unprecedented as ever in the political history of Pakistan.
We thought it appropriate for our readers’ interest to unveil as well as rekindle some of the mysteries still surrounding Mr. Bhutto’s death on the occasion of his 13th death anniversary which is being observed today, rather belatedly this year, due to Eid-ul-Fitr. Our Special Correspondent Sadiq Jafri well-researched story “will be appearing in several installments from today onwards —Editor
“To the question put up by Paul two thousand years ago: “O death, where is thy sting?”, there are many answers. I will choose one which applied to Ali Bhutto’s death and which I borrow from our philosopher Auguste Comte. It is this: “The dead continue to govern the living”.
Thus said Valery Giscard d’Estaing, former President of France, in a message sent to the international seminar on the legacy of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto at Karachi on April 4, 1989.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was one of the most controversial figures of our political history even when he was alive. People either loved him or hated him. They still do so. It seems that “pro-Bhutto” and “anti-Bhutto” forces have been working in full swing from day one. Intensity and forcefulness are the only common characteristics between the two sides. And it has been something bigger than the usual game of our politics. So big that we can easily divide our history between pre-Bhutto and post-Bhutto eras.
Although dead, does Bhutto continue to govern the living? This has been the most controversial question to date.
As with his life, the manner of this death has been a subject of great controversy right from the day of his execution in the now-demolished.