There were no slogans of any kind, no expression of approval or disgust. Neither Bhutto’s wife Nusrat nor his daughter Benazir was in court. And armed police were all over the place.
Lawyers representing the four other accused went over to them for consultation; Bhutto having boycotted the high court proceedings had no one to talk to him and remained lost in himself for some time.
Back in Kot Lakhpat gaol, six rooms had been reserved for Bhutto. He went straight to his bedroom and flopped on it fully dressed. He had his eyes fixed on the ceiling. ‘He lay there for an hour or more without moving,’ says a warder. ‘Only when I approached him and asked him if he would like to eat something, I noticed he had been crying. He did not answer me.’
At 11 a.m. the lawyer Yahya Bakhtiar came to visit him. The two men embraced each other and broke down: ‘Is this the end?’ asked Bhutto. ‘No,’ replied Bakhtiar emphatically. ‘We shall appeal against the sentence.’ They talked for quite sometime. Bhutto’s spirits were revived and he was more himself.
According to gaol rules, prisoners condemned to death have to be lodged in specially designed cells on which constant watch can be maintained to prevent inmates from taking their own lives. Only in the morning and evening are they let out for half-an–hour to take exercise or tehlaee.
At 5 p.m. Bhutto was removed to a condemned cell—but at his insistence he was allowed to wear his own clothes, keep his own bed and chair and eat his own food. He was given writing material and got all the magazines and newspapers he desired. The mood of depression descended on him again and according to a jail warder, ‘He lay on his bed like a dead rat.’ This lasted for a couple of days.
It seems that the appeals of clemency from different heads of state published in the papers revived his sagging spirits. He began to believe that the chorus of protests from all parts of the world would deter the courts and rulers of Pakistan from doing him harm and all the exercise was to break his morale. He resolved to show no sign of cracking under the strain.
Yahya Bakhtiar filed the appeal in the Supreme Court. Since the court was located in Rawalpindi, in mid–May Bhutto and his co-accused were transferred to the gaol in Rawalpindi—ironically alongside the very mansion from which only a few months earlier he had ruled Pakistan. A set of four rooms normally reserved for women convicted of murder were prepared for him. He had a bedroom, a study, a bathroom and a kitchen all—to himself. Once again gaol regulations were overlooked in order to make the distinguished prisoner comfortable. He was given a niwar bed instead of a hospital-type steel bed, a rubber-foam mattress, his own blankets, fan and light with the switchboard within his reach. He was also furnished with a table, chair, table-lamp, books and magazines. His food and his Havana cigars came from his home. He wore his own clothes (he had two suitcases full of them) and used his own shaving kit. He was allowed an hour everyday with his counsel and could take his half hour of tehlaee at times of his own choosing. Since winters in Rawalpindi are sharp, he was provided with electric heaters. His wife and daughter joined him for tea in the afternoon. Very often, Benazir lay on the same bed with her father and the two talked in whispers to avoid being overheard by the ever-present warders and to ensure their dialogue was not recorded by bugging devices.
On 6 February 1979 the Supreme Court dismissed Bhutto’s appeal. He was not present in court. The news was conveyed by the gaol superintendent. His only comment was: ‘This is very sad,’ followed by a question, ‘Was it unanimous?’ The superintendent without checking replied, ‘Yes.’ Bhutto remarked, ‘That is very surprising.’
When the news reached Nusrat Bhutto at Sihala (fifteen miles from Pindi) where she was under house arrest, she got into a car, broke through the police cordon and stormed up to the gaol gates. She was allowed to meet her husband. She collapsed in her husband’s arms. When she came to, the first question he asked her was, ‘Was it unanimous?’ Nusrat told him that of the seven judges of the Supreme Court three had given him the benefit of the doubt. ‘Don’t worry!’ he assured her. ‘We will go in for a review.’
Once the death sentence had been confirmed, the gaol authorities decided to treat Bhutto as they treated other convicts under sentence of death. They took away his shaving kit, removed the niwar bed (niwar can be used to hang oneself) and stopped home food. Bhutto refused to eat jail food and refused to lie in the hospital bed. Instead, he spread the rubber foam mattress on the floor: it was to be his bed till the last day. By the afternoon, the government relented and let him have home-cooked food.
Last Hope Extinguished
On 24 March 1979 the Supreme Court rejected the review petition. The last ray of hope was extinguished. Yahya Bakhtiar’s role as Bhutto’s lawyer was over but he requested the court to let him see Bhutto. The prosecution represented by M.A. Rehman made no objection. Outside the court room Yahya Bakhtiar told waiting pressmen that there were grounds for a second review petition. Meanwhile, the superintendent of the gaol wrote a formal memorandum to Bhutto informing him of the confirmation of the death sentence and telling him that he had seven days to make a petition for mercy. When he took it to Bhutto and asked him to sign on the carbon copy, he refused to do so and dismissed him brusquely, ‘Yes, yes I know all about it.’
The next day (25 March 1979) the Lahore High Court issued a ‘Black’ warrant to the five convicted men specifying that they were liable to be executed after 4 April 1979. The exact date was kept a secret.
Bhutto was allowed to receive as many relatives and friends he wished to receive. His first wife, Begum Ameer, uncles, cousins, including Mumtaz Bhutto, and erstwhile cabinet colleague, Hafeez Pirzada, were amongst the many who came to see him. All visitors were searched and no one was allowed inside the cell, a six-foot wide table was placed in front of the iron grill to prevent physical contact (or passing of cyanide or other poison).
One night Bhutto sent for the deputy superintendent of the gaol and asked him to send for Hafeez Pirzada. Bhutto made no specific request to Pirzada to appeal for mercy but the words he used, ‘Marna bahut mushkil hota hai’ (dying is not easy), and the fact that Pirzada did in fact file a petition after his last meeting on 1 April 1979 indicates that Bhutto without relenting from his determination never to beg for his life still hoped that somehow, someone would make General Zia hold his hand. While leaving the jail Pirzada was asked by pressmen whether Bhutto had made an appeal for mercy. He replied, ‘No, he has not. But I will do so.’
Pirzada appealed to President Zia to spare Bhutto’s life. His appeal was widely published but there was no comment from the President’s office.
The decision to execute Bhutto on 4 April was taken two days earlier (2 April). Rules required executions to take place at 5.30 a.m. (or 6 a.m. in winter)—but the hour was fixed at 2 a.m. to avoid demonstrations and give time to have the body flown to Larkana and interred in the family graveyard in village Nau Dero. Meanwhile, the hangman Tara Masih was brought from Bahawalpur to Lahore. There was speculation that the condemned man might be taken to Kot Lakhpat gaol to be executed.
On 3 April 1979 Nusrat and Benazir Bhutto were brought from Sihala to Rawalpindi jail at 11 a.m. They demanded to be told whether or not this was to be their last meeting. They received an evasive reply: ‘Ap yeh hee samajh le (you may take it as so).’ When the wife and daughter told Bhutto of it, he sent for the gaol superintendent and received confirmation that as far as mulakats (meetings) were concerned this was to be the akhree (last). The exact hour when the hanging would take place was not divulged.
Nusrat and Benazir spent three hours with Bhutto talking across the table. For once Bhutto was indiscreet and gave instructions about some papers which he had secreted away behind the walls in his Larkana house. Within four hours the house was searched and the papers recovered.
She Could Not Embrace Her Father
There are heart-rending accounts of this last meeting between Bhutto and his wife and daughter. Benazir’s request to let her embrace her father or at least touch his feet b
efore going was firmly turned down. A silver salver in which tea was served to Bhutto was handed back to her with the words ‘Ab sahib ko iskee zaroorat nahin padegee (the Sahib will not be needing this anymore).’ It was obvious that the hour of doom was near. Nusrat and Benazir left the jail around 2.30 p.m. and demanded to be taken to see President Zia-ul-Haq. The superintendent rang up the President’s house and was told to tell the ladies to put whatever they wanted to say on paper.
At 4 p.m. a magistrate arrived with writing material and asked Bhutto to write his last will which he would attest for him. Bhutto spent an hour or more writing out his last message. No one will ever know what he wrote because with his own cigar lighter he burnt the paper to ashes.
At 6 p.m. he asked for hot water and his shaving set, saying, ‘I don’t want to die looking like a mullah.’ And after he had erased the growth on his chin he looked into the mirror and remarked in self-mockery, ‘Now, I look like a third world leader.’
A maulvi arrived with a tasbih (rosary) and a musalla (prayer mat) to assist Bhutto in his last prayers. Bhutto put the rosary round his neck but told the maulvi to remove the prayer mat and himself as he did not need anyone’s assistance to meet his Maker. Then the bravado went out of him. He lay down on the mattress and went into a kind of coma. As the time of execution drew near other inmates of the jail were woken up and ordered to chant verses from the holy Quran. Only Bhutto remained impervious to the goings-on. At 1.30 a.m. jail officials accompanied by a magistrate and doctor arrived to take him out on his last journey to the scaffold. The superintendent shook him and said ‘Bhutto sahib, janey ka waqt aa gaya hai (It is time to go).’ There are different versions of what followed. According to one, Bhutto was roused and as soon as he saw the men with handcuffs, he panicked. He tried various ploys to play for time: he wanted to take a bath, write his will, have a cup of tea. But all were firmly but politely denied to him. According to the second version, he refused to be woken up. The superintendent feared that he had taken his own life and sent for the doctor. The doctor felt his pulse, heard his heartbeat through his stethoscope and opened his eye-lids to make sure that he was alive. In either case, he was unable or unwilling to get up and had to be put on a stretcher. Since he was supine his hands were cuffed in front instead of behind him as prescribed for condemned men on their last journey.
Extensive precautions had been taken against possible attempts to storm the gaol: names of the Palestine Liberation Organization and even some foreign governments were whispered as likely to make a desperate bid to save Bhutto. Precautions taken included look-outs for parachutists and hostile helicopters. Consequently, a very large number of defence personnel were present in the gaol at the time. It is estimated that upwards of 250 men saw the execution with their own eyes.
Finish It!
The scaffold is quite a distance from the condemned cell. The party with Bhutto on the stretcher arrived at the foot of the gallows at about 1.45 a.m. As the stretcher was put down and the superintendent approached Mr Bhutto, he suddenly sat up. He mumbled some words which were interpreted as, ‘Nusrat will be left alone.’ When the handcuffs were unlocked and his hands tied behind him, he is reported to have protested that the knot was too tight. Then without assistance he went up the steps to the gallows. Before Tara Masih put the black hood over his face, Bhutto’s lips moved. According to one version, he mumbled ‘Finish it!’ According to another, his lips moved but no sound came from them. The trap was sprung exactly at 2 a.m. and the dapper, flamboyant Zulfi, once President and Prime Minister of Pakistan and next to Jinnah, its most popular leader (Qaid-i-Awam), plunged to his doom.
At the time of his death, Bhutto was dressed in salwar kameez which he had elevated to the status of an awami suit. He had a gold Zenith watch on his wrist and a gold ring with three diamonds on his finger. After Hayat Mohammed, a humble servitor in a Pindi mosque, had bathed his corpse and draped it in a shroud, somebody noticed that the diamond-studded ring was missing. The superintendent immediately arrested Tara Masih and Hayat Mohammed and ordered them to be searched. The ring was found in the pocket of the hangman, Tara Masih. Both the watch and the ring were handed over to Benazir Bhutto the next morning.
The body was flown to Larkana and then taken to Nau Dero. Bhutto’s first wife, Begam Ameer, fifteen years older than him, his uncles, aunts and other relatives were allowed to see the dead man’s face. It was serene and calm as if in deep slumber with no visible marks of injury save a gash in the neck. (There is no truth in the story that men who are hanged have their necks elongated and their eyes and tongues hang out).
Bhutto’s execution will wipe out memories of his evil deeds and highlight some of the good he did for his country. He is already being acclaimed as a martyr. There are reports of people going to his grave to offer fateha for the peace of his soul. Many are reported to kiss the grave, pick up the dust about the grave and smear it on their foreheads. In every hamlet, village, town and city stretching from the Khyber to Karachi groups gather to offer ghaibana namaz-i-janaza (funeral prayers in the absence of the body). Bhutto’s ghost has already emerged from its tomb; it will not be long before it turns the illusory dreams of power of the ruling generals into a nightmare.
The Sikh Homeland (From A History of the Sikhs)
Khushwant Singh’s two-volume History of the Sikhs is widely regarded as the authoritative work on the subject. Based on meticulous, scholarly research of original documents in Gurmukhi, Persian and English, the two volumes (1469–1839 and 1839–1988) cover the social, religious and political background that led to the formation of the Sikh faith and, spanning 500 years of Sikh history, include events leading upto Operation Bluestar and its tragic aftermath.
The first of the two extracts below is the opening chapter of Volume I, while the second extract is taken from the concluding chapter of Volume II.
Punjab has a geographical unity distinct from the neighbouring countries and the rest of India. It is shaped like a scalene triangle balanced on its sharpest angle. The shortest side is in the north and is composed of the massive Himalayas, which separate it from the Tibetan plateau. The western side is bounded by the river Indus from the point it enters the plains to another point 1,650 miles downstream, where it meets the confluence of the Punjab’s rivers at a place appropriately named Panjnad, the five streams. Westwards of the Indus runs a chain of rugged mountains, the Hindu Kush and the Sulaiman, pierced by several passes like the Khyber and the Bolan which have served as inlets for the people of the countries which lie beyond, Afghanistan and Baluchistan. The eastern boundary of Punjab’s triangle is not clearly marked, but from a point near Karnal where the Jumna plunges southeastwards a jagged line can be drawn up to Panjnad, which will demarcate the state from the rest of Hindustan and the Sindh desert.
Punjab, except for the salt range in its centre, is an extensive plain sloping gently down from the mountains in the north and the west towards the desert in the south. Across this monotonously flat land flow six large rivers: the Indus, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and the Sutlej. In the intra-fluvial tracts or doabs1 between these rivers and in the western half of the tract between the Sutlej and the Jamuna live people who speak the Punjabi language and describe themselves as the people of Punjab. The homeland of the vast majority of the Sikhs is in the doabs between the Chenab and the Jamuna.
The Name: Punjab
When the Aryans came to India there were seven rivers in Punjab, so they named it Sapta Sindhva, the land of the seven seas. The Persians took the name from the Aryans and called it the Hafta Hindva. Sometime later, after the seventh river, the Sarasvati, had dried up, people began to exclude the Indus from the count (since it marked only the western boundary of the province) and renamed it after the remaining five rivers as Pentopotamia or the panj-ab, the land of the five waters.2
Climate and Landscape3
The climate of Punjab ranges from bracing cold in the winter to scorching heat in the summer. Extremes of temperature and the two mons
oons produce a variety of seasons and a constantly changing landscape.
The spring is traditionally ushered in on Basant Panchami, which falls early in the month of February. It is Punjab’s blossom time, when, in the words of Guru Nanak, ‘all is seemly; the woodlands are in flower and loud with the humming of bumble bees’. The countryside is an expanse of mustard yellow, broken by solid squares of green sugarcane with its fluffy pampas plumes. If the winter monsoon has been good, a crop of wheat, barley, gram, oil-seeds, arid tobacco will cover the land with lush abundance. Peasants supplement the rain by canal water, or, where there are no canals, by Persian wheels turned by bullocks or camels. Around the wells grow vegetables: carrots, radishes, cabbages and cauliflower. Branches of jujube trees sag under the weight of their berries. In springtime, the sounds that pervade the countryside are the creaking of Persian wheels, the call of partridges, and the monotonous kooh, kooh, of flour mills.4
The sugarcane is cut, its juice squeezed out, boiled in large cauldrons, and solidified into dark, brown cakes. The canary yellow of the mustard is replaced by newly-sown cotton and the golden-brown of ripening wheat—and we know that spring has given way to summer.
Trees shed their leaves and after a short period of barrenness come into blossom. While the margosa is still strewing the earth with its brittle ochre leaves, the silk cotton, the coral and the flame of the forest burst into flowers of bright crimson, red and orange. Even the thorny acacia, the commonest tree of Punjab, is covered with tiny pale pom-poms. Persian wheels and the partridges are silent: instead there is the screaming of the koels in the mango groves and the crying of barbets.
Not a Nice Man to Know Page 19
