[DAWN] Retired Brigadier Javed Iqbal Cheema, former director general of the National Crisis Management Cell (NCMC), told a Rawalpindi Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Friday that he had addressed a presser following the liquidation of Benazir Bhutto... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in...
after discussing it with the spymasters and then secretary interior.
This statement differs from the one the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) produced before the ATC on February 7, 2011, where the prosecution included Brig Cheema as a prime witness against former president retired General
Pervez PervMusharraf
... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ...
, in connection with the Benazir murder case.
As per Brig Cheemas previous statement, submitted by the FIA along with case challan, the former DG NCMC was quoted as saying that a day after Ms Bhuttos liquidation, on December 28, 2007, he held a presser on the advice of Gen Musharraf. In the FIAs version of Brig Cheema statement, he maintains that he held the presser, in compliance with Gen Musharrafs orders, to dispel the negativity against the regime, that prevailed in the aftermath of the liquidation.
A news hound who attended the presser in question told Dawn that during the presser, Brig Cheema had said that the cause of Ms Bhuttos death was an injury to the head, sustained when her head hit the sunroof lever of her own vehicle. The second thing he disclosed during the presser was that Baitullah Mehsud, who was the leader of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain at the time, had claimed the responsibility for the attack in a video message.
Brig Cheema had also shared the video where Mehsud had indirectly grabbed credit for the liquidation of Benazir Bhutto with members of the press corps.
But on Friday, when the prosecution produced Brig Cheema as a witness before the ATC, he told the court that the decision to hold the presser was taken by then-interior secretary Kamal Shah.
He said that before the presser, he was summoned to the headquarters of the Inter-Services Intelligence
...the Pak military
intelligenceagency that controls the military -- heads of ISI typically get promoted into the Chief of Army Staff position. It serves as a general command center for favored turban groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, tries to influence the politix of neighboring countries, and carries out a (usually) low-level war against India in Kashmir...
(ISI), where he met the interior secretary and the heads of the ISI, Military Intelligence and Intelligence Bureau.
He told the court that the spymasters briefed them about their meeting with Gen Musharraf and handed him the video and instructed him to hold a presser to this effect. He also told the court that he also consulted then-interior minister retired Lt-Gen Hamid Nawaz before holding the presser.