Thread by @_AhmedQuraishi

15 yrs after her assassination, today, 27 Dec 2007, I want to come clean on the organized smear campaign that intensified in the lead up to #BenazirBhutto's murder, a campaign in which I inadvertently joined. Which is why she was going to see me at 10 pm that night. /1

I received a call from Dr Asif Khan, #BenazirBhutto's quiet operator in #Islamabad and a friend to ex-PM @RPAPPP around 4 pm to reconfirm a meeting with her at Bilawal House. I was at state-run PTV, in a suit, making cuts to my weekly show, ready to leave for the meet at 10 pm./2

I was in the editing room at around 6:30 pm when a media liaison offcr frm Pres #Musharraf's office dropped by, opened door, & said, 'Did you hear? My info from a source at hospital confirms she's dead.' There was silence. He left. I checked the time, thought about my meeting. /3

My show on PTV, Worldview From Islamabad, became one of the outlets that vilified #BenazirBhutto, encouraged #Musharraf not to make a deal w/ her. That's how I began my monolog one evening just when @Shahidmasooddr was going live on @geonews_urdu w/ her+@AsifAliZardari in DXB. /4

#Musharraf wanted to work with #BenazirBhutto but several strong lobbies in his Govt were deadly opposed. People like me were led to believe that she was returning with a 'foreign agenda.'

[@PTVNewsOfficial's Worldview From Islamabad poster; with #US Amb Ryan C. Crocker ⤵️] /5

In Nov 2007, multiple Pakistani news outlets carried my article, published on my personal website, that revealed #Musharraf and/or #BenazirBhutto faced possible assassination. Here's an excerpt ⤵️. Read but remember that I disagree today with the context I gave here then: /6

On 3 Dec 2007, Robert Novak (of @ValeriePlame fame) wrote a column in @washingtonpost, linking me & my article to #Pakistan's spy agency, which was incorrect. [My analysis quoted by Novak turned out many years later to be inaccurate. But his take on #BenazirBhutto had merit.] /7

On 7 Dec 2007, an honorable judge in the full bench of Lahore High Court, probing a case, referenced my article on the possibility of #Musharraf and/or #BenazirBhutto assassination. This reflected heightened tensions among Pakistanis in the weeks preceeding Bhutto's murder. /8

I was surprised when @RPAPPP's friend Dr Asif Khan called days before the assassination saying #BenazirBhutto wanted to see me despite my criticism & #Musharraf-sympathetic views. She was a visionary who could rise above pettiness and focus on #Pakistan./9

I often think about that meeting with #BenazirBhutto at Bilawal House in #Islamabad at 10 pm on 27 Dec 2007 that never happened, the sudden turn of events, and the smear campaign against her in the days before her assassination, painting her as a "foreign agent." /10

#BenazirBhutto's violent exit from #Pakistan's politics plunged the national discourse, and reduced the quality of leadership and wisdom available to the nation. Takes time to build credible political figures+institutions; can't be replaced overnight.
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