'No smoking gun', what then?

Many conspiracy theories emerged after BB's assassination. Did she die from a sniper's shot from a nearby building? A PPP leader even talked about the firing of a laser beam from a laser gun, to explain why no bullet wounds were visible . Were the three gunshots by the assassin and the suicide blast a decoy to hide the real shooters?
Pakistani investigators had concluded that a lone attacker fired shots at BB, before detonating the explosive, but concluded that bullets were not the cause of death. The then Interior Ministry spokesman had declared within days of the event that BB died due to skull fracture after her head impacted with the side lever of the vehicle's roof hatch.
Baitullah Mehsud (BM) was officially blamed, based on the transcript of a purported telephone conversation in which he congratulated his apparent follower on the mission's success. Though BM denied any role, the state continues to pursue the criminal proceedings against BM and few alleged accomplices to the crime in a local court.
What were the findings of Scotland Yard? Their report did not establish who killed BB, but only how she died. Scotland Yard team included forensic, explosives and video experts . They believed BB died not because of bullet wounds, but due to a severe head injury sustained as a consequence of the bomb blast and head impact with the roof hatch. Scotland Yard also concluded that the gunman and suicide bomber were the same.
Scotland Yard report however noted that lack of both the autopsy and an extended detailed search of crime scene complicated the task of establishing exactly what happened. Nevertheless its report brought relief to the Musharraf camp as it almost corroborated the Pakistani findings, but the PPP refused to accept both, terming them as biased and unreliable.
What about the recent bombshell dropped by a senior PPP leader, BB's former protocol officer and Party's federal council member, who reportedly in a letter addressed to the UN Commission, suggested the arrest of two senior party leaders, currently federal ministers, which could lead to the real culprits.
This complainant has reportedly filed a case in a local Court implicating these top PPP leaders alongwith Musharraf and other senior officials in BB's murder. Does this point towards a strong belief within the party of an 'inside PPP' collusion with the conspirators? Surprisingly the party leadership has yet to respond to such serious allegations.
The nation is confused. Why are we spending millions of dollars in sponsoring the UN mission when its terms of reference do not include finding out who did it? Given that President Zardari has openly declared, "we know the killers", will the nation and the diehard BB followers in particular, accept a vaguely worded UN Commission finding that may point towards a conspiracy by Al Qaeda/ BM led extremist groups duly supported by rogue elements/ hidden hand within the PPP/ Musharraf administration?
Pakistan has a long history of unsolved political murders stretching back to its first Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan, who fell to an assassin's bullet in Liaquat Bagh in October 1951, not far from the spot where BB died. Investigations into Ojhri Camp disaster(1988), Gen Zia's mysterious C I30 aircrash (1988), Murtaza Bhutto's daytime murder(1996) and Air Chief Marshal Mushaf's Fokker aircrash (2004) failed to identify the conspiracy, the masterminds or the key players.
Under immense pressure from BB loyalists who dominate the party, Zardari as well as the current PPP administration have no option but to disclose and prosecute the real killers. The nation, too, will not settle for anything less as it lost one of its finest leaders. Failure to do so may cast serious doubts over the real motives and intentions of the top PPP leadership, resulting in a serious division within the already beleagured PPP and could strongly threaten Zardari's claim to the Bhutto dynasty and the party's top slot.
The lightning speed at which state assets were destroyed within no time of BB's death, with Sind remaining cut off from the rest of the country for a few days, points towards a preplanned agenda of violence by the masterminds. BB's murder was indeed the result of a conspiracy with both international dimensions and strong internal linkages.
Will the UN Commission succeed in truly unfolding this conspiracy and unmask the real forces, both external and internal(if not the individual actors) or are we heading for yet another grand cover-up? Will the UN body adopt the easy way out and implicate the Musharraf set-up, taking advantage of the current anti Musharraf wave in Pakistan? Will the Commission be really independent and not be influenced by international forces or the Government of Pakistan in its findings/ recommendations?
Rarely have successive governments presented the truth to the people of Pakistan on subjects of public interest. There may have been many a deliberate cover-up in the past as a matter of state policy, but those at the helm of affairs always had access to the real truth. Somewhere in those locked strong rooms and safe vaults beneath the corridors of real state power, may lie buried the absolute truth behind all national tragedies and disasters.
The writer is a retired Brigadier
E-mail: fhkhan54@gmail.com