THE plot thickens once again. The FIA submitted in court on Monday yet another report on its ongoing investigation into Benazir Bhutto’s murder. This time it has included Gen (retd) Musharraf’s name as one of the accused. Although no specific charges have been brought against him, the inclusion of clauses of ‘abetment’ and ‘conspiracy’ in the list of criminal charges suggests that some of the investigators believe Ms Bhutto’s assassination may have been the result of a much bigger plot. The current findings are in stark contrast to those of a report submitted last November — which ascribed responsibility solely to the TTP and its dead leader Baitullah Mehsud — hinting at a larger, state-sponsored plan rather than an isolated terrorist incident. That, in turn, has broader implications, suggesting that other senior military and government officials could potentially be charged with giving instructions to junior police officers and making it possible for terrorist elements to carry out the assassination.

The difference between this development and prior reports adds to the confusion, secrecy and delays that the murder probe has been cloaked in for the last three years. One would think, given Ms Bhutto’s importance for the party in power, that the administration would have made a genuine effort to get to the bottom of the crime. The request for a UN probe perhaps reflected a desire for an independent investigation unhampered by Pakistan’s political realities, but it was commissioned to be simply a fact-finding mission with no power to point fingers. When the November report was submitted, this paper claimed that the team had been prevented from questioning Gen Musharraf. Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s indignation about Monday’s charges against the general, and reports that he might insist these charges be withdrawn, are again raising questions about whether or not the administration is truly interested in getting to the bottom of the matter within a reasonable timeframe.

So far findings have remained vague and inconsistent. The government seems to be doing little to change that.

Since December 2007, Pakistanis have been looking for answers from, in turn, the investigation commissioned by the Musharraf government shortly after the assassination, the UN probe, various interim reports from the current investigation, and committees that have been formed along the way. But their findings have often been contradictory, and a clear set of answers has yet to emerge, adding to the general impression that deliberate efforts have been made by various quarters to hold back different pieces of evidence. Meanwhile, Ms Bhutto’s supporters and Pakistanis at large are still waiting to hear the truth about one of the country’s most significant political assassinations.