‘It is no longer important if I become the prime minister for the third time. What is important is that my country is in danger. So I had to return even if it meant risking my life...’—Benazir Bhutto, hours before she was assassinated in Rawalpindi.
Drawing on personal anecdotes, meetings, off-the record conversations with Benazir Bhutto, and the emails that he exchanged with her just before her death, Amir Mir brings us a carefully documented reconstruction of the assassination that rocked the world, the events leading to it, and its aftermath. His meticulously researched book is also a chilling exposé of the symbiotic relationship between Pakistan’s formidable military and intelligence agencies, and the radical Islamic terrorist groups entrenched there. From the murky details of the ‘election rigging cells’ that Bhutto was on the brink of exposing, inside information about her ‘designated killers’, the dubious security cover, the wanton destruction of evidence at the crime scene, the cover-up that began soon after the murder, the scapegoats, the arbitrary arrests and the compromised investigations, to the outright deceptions of various military top brass and even members of her own party, the book reveals it all.
Other highlights include excerpts from the reports of high-level investigations carried out by different organisations, rare pictures related to the suicide attack on Bhutto’s convoy, her last speech delivered minutes before she was killed, and her hand-written ‘political will’ which her party released after her death. The richly textured narrative is supported by exclusive information that sheds fresh light on various conspiracy theories, and will almost certainly evoke controversy and debate. |
