General Gul said he was more afraid of America’s ambitions than he was of Al Qaeda or the Taliban. The solution to the problems of Muslim societies was more Islam not less, he said, because the Shariat meant a new order. What Pakistan needed to be concerned about was America’s attempts to destabilise it and make it look unmanageable so they could get their hands on the country’s ‘nuclear assets’. “They have been demanding joint custody. But, they will not succeed in this unless the Pakistan army breaks.”

From Rawalpindi I went to Islamabad making sure to drive past Liaqat Bagh to pay a silent tribute to Benazir Bhutto. It is a dreary, little public park surrounded by grubby bazaars and cheap hotels and it was here that she made her last speech warning the militants that she would fight to save Pakistan from terrorism. Those who think they understand why she was killed say it was because she threatened to deal firmly with the Taliban and Al Qaeda and because she suggested that she might allow American troops into Waziristan to find the leaders of global terrorism.

Was that the reason she was killed? Was it because she came home with the blessings of the American state department? Or because she was too big, too charismatic a figure? Nobody knows. But, not many buy the official version given to me by the President’s spokesman, General Rashid Qureshi, that she was killed by Baitullah Mehsud, the al Qaeda leader who hides in Waziristan.

... contd.