Soon after Benazir Bhutto was assassinated, I decided that I will wait for few weeks because facts are never readily available and it is very hard to conclude theories based on emotional public outburst. Its been almost a month now, maybe it is a good time to talk about who exactly benefited from Benazir Bhutto’s assassination.

Pervaiz Musharraf

In Pakistan these days, if you go to the bathroom in the morning and it doesn’t flush, you end up blaming Musharraf. That’s how life is for Musharraf in Pakistan. The man has nothing working for him anymore and things have been gloomy for him since the ousting of the chief justice of Pakistan.

Musharraf was the first person people started blaming as soon as the news was out that Benazir Bhutto was shot. He made things worse for himself when his spokesman suggested that Benazir died because of the sun roof lever. Even if that were true, the wise thing would have been to stay quite. You just can’t say such things in Pakistan, it is not a soceity where people are looking for answers, its where people look for someone to blame.

If there ever was a possibility that Musharraf would form a coalition with anyone, it was Bhutto. Musharraf had ousted Nawaz Sharif and if you read his book, “In the Line of Fire”, you will know that he is not fond of Nawaz Sharif. If there was a deal to be made, it would be made between Bhutto and Musharraf.

Musharraf needed the elections to go as scheduled because of all the heat he was getting after imposing emergency. He needed stability to consolidate his power. He needed Bhutto alive to do that, even while she opposed him politically. He didn’t benefit at all from Bhutto’s death, he had more to lose from Bhutto’s death than anyone else is Pakistan (besides Bhutto’s family).

Getting rid of Benazir for Musharraf would have been like digging his own grave. Why would he provide a free pass to Nawaz Sharif and his party to take power again, considering he ousted the party in a coup when that same party tried to kill him in flight?

Nawaz Sharif

Now here is someone no one seems to be talking about, he has slipped right under the radar. Nawaz Sharif was the first to reach the hospital where Bhutto was taken, there is video out there of him crying on camera. Ever heard of crocodile tears?

He said that his party would boycott the elections, that resulted in an increase in Bhutto’s popularity but then obviously he changed his mind and said his party would participate. Now after Benazir is dead he is back to boycott and is also asking Musharraf to step down so there won’t be anyone in his way and then he can nominate his brother to be the next Prime Minister of Pakistan.

Before returning from exile, he domiciled in Saudi Arabia, a country known to indoctrinate radical Islamic beliefs and sponsor terrorism in the world. Saudi Arabia would rather have Nawaz Sharif in power than Musharraf. So if Benazir is out, Nawaz will be definitely in. That sounds to me as someone who benefited because someone else was not in the picture anymore; I just gave you a motive and a benefit.

Taliban

In Urdu they say “Ungli di tou haath pakar liya” which means that as soon as the offer of help was offered, you take advantage at the expense of the person offering you help. Taliban is like parasite on Pakistani soil. Most of them are refugees from Afghanistan who came to Pakistan during the Russian invasion and never left because they thought they could create their own country inside Pakistan.

Taliban along with Nawaz Sharif were behind this attack. It is no secret that the Saudi Arabia finances Taliban and Al-Qaeda and has always been a staunch supporter of the regime Taliban view on Islam.

Taliban benefited from Bhutto’s death because now they have made people of Pakistan believe that Pakistani military is the real enemy. They know that once the country turns its back on the military, Pakistan’s security will fall like house of cards. That would allow them to take over at least part of the country if not the entire country.

They have convinced the tribal areas to wage war against the Pakistani military. Pakistani soldiers are being killed in their own country and this time, it is not India, it is the same people who once came to Pakistan for help and refuge but ended up making us miserable to each other.

Conclusion

Everyone gained a little from Benazir’s assassination. Musharraf might have gained too but it was definitely not his idea, the guy is extremely smart and if he were to play this game, he would have made sure no one ever pointed a finger on him. Nawaz Sharif has no opposition anymore from anyone as no one else besides Bhutto returned from exile to take power in Pakistan. Fighting is to Taliban and Al-Qaeda what oxygen is to human beings. They wanted to engage the Pakistani government in an armed conflict and create a turmoil in Pakistan, they got what they wanted.