ISLAMABAD: A recent book by a senior Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leader claims that his group was behind the 2007 assassination of Pakistan’s first woman Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
The new book, ‘Inqilab Mehsood South Waziristan: From British Raj to American Imperialism,’ was released on Nov 30, 2017, and written by Abu Mansoor Asim Mufti Noor Wali, a senior leader in the Taliban terror group.
Arab News has obtained a copy of the 588-page online book.
Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in the garrison city of Rawalpindi shortly after she addressed an election rally on December 27, 2007.
According to the the book author, two suicide bombers, Bilal alias Saeed and Ikramullah, were assigned to carry out the attack on Benazir Bhutto on December 27.
“Bomber Bilal first fired at Benazir Bhutto from his pistol and the bullet hit her neck. Then he detonated his explosive vest and blew up people in the procession,” the book says.
The book adds that the terrorist Taliban group was also involved in the suicide attack on Benazir Bhutto’s procession in Karachi October 2007, which had killed nearly 140 people, but Benazir had survived.
“Despite attacks on Benazir Bhutto’s procession in Karachi, the government had not taken appropriate security measures that made it possible for the attackers to have easy access to Benazir Bhutto,” the book says.
A former Taliban leader confirmed to Arab News that the book has written by the group.
Then President Pervez Musharraf had blamed TTP for the attack on Benazir Bhutto, and the Ministry of Interior, after the incident, released an audio conversation and said it was between the two men who were assigned to kill Benazir Bhutto.
In August 2017 an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Rawalpindi formally charged Musharraf in the case of Benazir Bhutto assassination and declared him “most wanted” in the case.
But Musharraf denied any involvement and dismissed the charges as politically-motivated.
The five TTP suspects in Benazir’s murder case — Rafaqat Hussain, Husnain Gul, Sher Zaman, Aitzaz Shah and Abdul Rashid — were cleared of all charges in the murder trial in August last year.
The book covers the TTP’s history, its attacks, military operations in the tribal regions, TTP’s activities in Afghanistan, tribal system, Mehsood tribe role in the TTP, TTP operations in Karachi and its campaign against polio vaccination.
Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairman Bilawal Bhutto, and the son of Benazir Bhutto, blamed Musharraf for his mother’s assassination on her 10th death anniversary on Dec. 27, last year.
Pakistan Peoples Party’s spokesperson Farhatullah Babar said the Taliban claim has strengthened the party’s suspicion that the militants had been “used to execute the terrorist act.”
“In fact we have been demanding to know who were the masterminds behind the plan to martyr Benazir Bhutto,” Babar told Arab News.
“Whoever the mastermind might have been they should be exposed. They had in fact used these people (Taliban) to execute the plan,” the PPP leader added.
Pakistan Taliban book claims group was behind Benazir Bhutto’s assassination
Pakistan Taliban book claims group was behind Benazir Bhutto’s assassination
Protests across globe mark one week of Iran war
- In Washington DC, demonstrators gathered at the National Mall carrying US, Israeli and Iranian flags, with some protesters painting the colors of the Iranian flags on their cheeks
- Several counter-protesters carried signs denouncing Israel and in support of the Palestinians
PARIS, France: Lion-emblazoned flags of pre-revolution Iran fluttered in cities across the world on Saturday as demonstrators took to the streets a week after the start of the war in the Middle East.
Europe, Africa and the Americas saw demonstrations, with some protesting against Iran’s Islamic regime, others railing against the war, and some in support of Iran’s late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the first US-Israeli strikes of the conflict.
Paris saw two demonstrations: one supporting the US-based Reza Pahlavi, the son of the late shah, to head up a transition, and another denouncing that scenario.
“I support Pahlavi who is calling for a revolution,” Masoud Ghanaatian, 35, a student, told AFP at a protest in southern Paris, where participants carried photos of the late shah’s son and waved US, Israeli and pre-revolution Iran flags.
“He’s a democrat. He can oversee a transition and promises to organize elections.”
Hundreds of pro-Pahlavi demonstrations also gathered in Stockholm, holding up pictures of him and his late father.
But farther north, protesters wearing yellow vests reading “Free Iran” showed off stickers on their hands that read “No Shah, no Mullah.”
In Amsterdam protesters snaked along one of the city’s canals, holding up Israeli, American and pre-revolution Iran flags, as they called on the government to invite Pahlavi to the country and to close the Iranian embassy.
In Israel, anti-war activists and police scuffled during a protest against eh war in HaBima Square in Tel Aviv.
Shortly after dawn in Britain, anti-war protesters gathered at the entrance of an air force base in Fairford, southwest of England, holding signs reading “Hands off Iran,” “Peace” and “Yanks go home.”
- ‘Assassins’ -
A demonstrations against the war also took place in Cyprus.
Outside the US consulate in Mexico City, protesters carried a placard with pictures of US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with blood-soaked palms over the word “Assassins” and kicked pinatas with images of the two leaders.
In the United States, protesters carried Iranian, Lebanese and Palestinian flags and signs “Iran is not our enemy” and “No war on Iran” in downtown Detroit, Michigan.
In Washington DC, demonstrators gathered at the National Mall carrying US, Israeli and Iranian flags, with some protesters painting the colors of the Iranian flags on their cheeks.
In Boston, Iranian Americans gathered at Copley Square to call for the fall of the Islamic republic.
In South Africa — which has dragged Israel to International Court of Justice, accusing it of genocide during the Gaza war, a charge Israel denies — dozens gathered in front of the US consulate in Johannesburg, holding up photos of Khamenei, the Islamic republic’s flag and signs bashing Israel.
Protesters carried pictures of Khamenei and denounced the war in central Tunis in Tunisia.
In Cape Town, Iranian pro-democracy activists and supporters of Israel waved Israeli flags and chanted slogans in the Albert Waterfront shopping mall.
Several counter-protesters carried signs denouncing Israel and in support of the Palestinians.
