BHUTTO. Trial and Execution.

by Victoria Schofield

Putting events into perspective, Bhutto’s death was inevitable. Those who were blinded by hope, optimism and trust in the judicial institutions of the country only saw at the end that from the beginning the minds of the military authorities were already made up. The judicial process merely prolonged the agony and uncertainty. No one could honestly say that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was sent to death for his alleged part in a murder; he was sent to death because in the political climate of Pakistan at the time, the people who had the power wanted him out of the way. Otherwise mercy could easily have been shown by the executive authorities. What deliberations they did have must have been over whether or not they would be able to get away with it.

Genres: Pakistan

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

As a historian and independent commentator on international affairs, with specialist knowledge of South Asia, her other books include Kashmir in Conflict: India, Pakistan and the Unending War and Afghan Frontier: at the Crossroads of Conflict. She is a frequent contributor to BBC World TV, BBC World Service and other news outlets. She has also written for the Sunday Telegraph, The Times, The Independent, Asian Affairs and The Round Table, the Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs. Schofield read Modern History at the University of Oxford and was President of the Oxford Union. In 2004-05 she was the Visiting Alistair Horne Fellow at St Antony's College, Oxford. www.victoriaschofield.com.

"My writing career began in my third year at Oxford University when my first article on South Africa was published in Blackwood’s Magazine. From Africa, my attention was directed to South Asia. Benazir Bhutto was a friend at Oxford, and when her father, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was sentenced to death for conspiracy to murder a political opponent in 1978, I put my fledging ambition to write professionally into a higher gear by travelling to Islamabad. The fruits of my endeavours were several articles in The Spectator and my first book, Bhutto: Trial and Execution. Since then, I’ve remained dedicated to understanding more about South Asian politics, both as a historian and journalist, and have travelled widely in the region. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 provided the inspiration for another book, Every Rock, Every Hill: The Plain Tale of the North-West Frontier and Afghanistan (1984), which I have revised as Afghan Frontier: Feuding and Fighting in Central Asia (2003) and as Afghan Frontier: At the Crossroads of Conflict (2010). I’ve also written extensively about the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir in articles and books, (Kashmir in the Crossfire (1996) and Kashmir in Conflict (2000, 2002 and 2010).) When working freelance for the BBC World Service in London and New York during the 1980s and 1990s, I covered numerous other stories, including a feature on British sculptor, Henry Moore and a radio series on ‘Women of the French Revolution’.

Wavell:Soldier and Statesman (2006) combines my lifelong interest in military history with my knowledge of the South Asia. I have also written the life of military historian and royal biographer, Sir John Wheeler-Bennett, under the title Witness to History (2012). And in 2012 I completed Volume 1 of a two volume official regimental history of The Black Watch, entitled The Highland Furies, The Black Watch 1739-1899, with a foreword by The Prince of Wales. I am now working on Volume 2 covering 1899-2006 when the Regiment was merged, becoming the The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS)."

Reviews

[Tariq Mahmood · Rating 2 out of 5]

The events that led to hanging of Bhutto are over 30 years old, but history in Pakistan has still to decide whether Bhutto was a shaheed or a criminal. Was he the greatest leader much loved by the people as professed by the author or an opportunist populist riding on the wave of heightened emotions at the end of 1971 war? Was he a good Muslim or a Muslim in name only?was he instrumental in the forcing the Army to act in East Pakistan or decisive in bringing back 90 thousand captured soldiers from India?

The author has chosen ignore all of the above vexing questions and has instead focused only on Bhutto's trial, the result of which was no real surprise for any Pakistani. Justice in Pakistan belongs to the powerful, and power squarely resided with Zia. The whole trial was a drama enacted to achieve one political goal, get rid of Bhutto, which makes majority of the book, detailing the technical details of the court case, very tedious indeed. If the real reason for Bhutto's hanging political than shouldn't those reasons be discussed in detail instead?

Questions like, why didn't Bhutto's 'loyal' supporters take to the street before and after his hanging?
Why wasn't there real pressure on Zia to release Bhutto by the international leaders especially when you consider that Bhutto was the sitting chairman of the OIC?
Why didn't Bhutto and his family not consider doing a deal with the Army instead of putting their trust in judiciary?


The author could have produced a far richer result if she had focused on the political aspects of the trial rather than producing the rather tedious details of the court case.