That's what former Pakistan President Parvez Musharraf, recently held responsible for playing a part in Benazir Bhutto's assassination, had to say, reveals Pakistani journalist Amir Mir's new novel, The Bhutto Murder Trail from Waziristan to GHQ. Mir, a close aide of the slain former prime minister reconstructs her murder from off-the-record conversations, edited bits of interview tapes, and anecdotal evidence. An extract

Even after her tragic assassination, Benazir Bhutto's old emails and interviews are still in circulation. In these, she had named her would-be assassins. Addressing his first ever press conference after the murder, Asif Zardari made public her email to Mark Siegel, in which she had mentioned the name of her would-be killers.

'The said email should be treated as Benazir Bhutto's dying declaration. She talks about her murderers from her grave and it is up to the world to listen to the echoes,' he said. Bhutto had sent the email, two months before her death, to her US adviser and longtime friend, Mark Siegel, who was to make this email public only if she were killed. Mark Siegel subsequently forwarded Bhutto's email to Wolf Blitzer of the CNN in Washington.


A Pakistani police commando walks past a poster of slain opposition leader
Benazir Bhutto outside the Parliament building in Islamabad. Bhutto's
assassination in January 2008, as she left a campaign rally in Rawalpindi,
triggered riots and unrest that left at least 58 people dead and forced
general elections to be delayed by almost six weeks until February 18.
Pic/AFP Photo

She wrote to Mark Siegel: Nothing will, God willing, happen. Just wanted you to know if it does in addition to the names in my letter to General Musharraf of Oct 16th, I would hold Musharraf responsible. I have been made to feel insecure by his minions and there is no way what is happening, in terms of stopping me from taking private cars or using tinted windows or giving jammers or four police mobile outriders to cover all sides could happen without him.

Bhutto had sent the email eight days after the Karachi attack on her welcome procession, pointing out that she had not been accorded the requested improvements to her security and was being prevented from making arrangements that were vital to her safety. Her requests, even those routed through her contacts in the USA, had not evoked a positive response from the Musharraf regime, although it was well aware of the risks she faced.

According to Mark Siegel, Bhutto had asked for permission to bring in trained security personnel from abroad, but the Pakistan government denied them visas, again and again. A US-based security agency, Blackwater, and a London-based firm, Armor Group, which guards UK diplomats in the Middle East, were not allowed to protect her. Bhutto urged Musharraf to improve her security after the Karachi suicide bomb attack, besides requesting American and British diplomats to pressurise Musharraf to provide her with adequate security. But Musharraf had taken no action.

Benazir Bhutto's security concerns and Musharraf's refusal to address them have also been highlighted by a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist, Ron Suskind, in his book, The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism.

Published in August 2008, the book makes several disclosures about the Musharraf-Bhutto conversations and includes Musharraf's comment, 'You should understand somethingu00a0-- your security is based on the state of our relationship.' The writer disclosed that the US intelligence agencies had tapped Bhutto's phone calls, prior to her arrival in Pakistan, in a bid to play their cut-throat games more effectively. About those who were tapping Bhutto's calls, Suskind writes, 'What they'll overlook is the context and her tone in the many calls they eavesdrop onu00a0-- overlook the fact that she's scared and preparing for the possibility of imminent death.'