Episode 9: The Other Dead

February 21, 2018·29 min·2 clips

Nearly 200 people died in attacks on Benazir Bhutto, but others connected to the case have since met violent, extrajudicial deaths.

The pattern is blunt. After the attacks, the dead are not only Benazir Bhutto and her supporters. They also include people tied to the case itself. The host does not buy coincidence easily. A darker suspicion starts to form: some killings came as investigators were closing in on people who might answer harder questions. Rahman Malik will not follow every implication. When pressed on whether Pakistani intelligence supplied coordinates for a CIA drone strike, he shifts toward American secrecy instead. That answer lands heavily. The narration treats it as a sign of how sensitive Pakistan's deep state still is, even for a former interior minister. Then there is Nawaz Ranja. He was investigating the Karachi attempt on Bhutto when men on motorcycles surrounded his car and killed him. Almost eight years later, no one had been convicted. The host is careful with the evidence, noting that Karachi had many targeted killings and police were often victims. Still, the count keeps growing. Five jihadis, a bodyguard, and a police officer linked to the assassination have now been killed. Ikramullah becomes the next thread. An intercepted phone call named him alongside Bilal after Bhutto's death, with Bilal described as the assassin. The implication is narrow but serious. The transcript says Ikramullah was the backup bomber, there on the day of the assassination, and that he later disappeared. His role could point to a trail someone did not want followed. The episode keeps circling pressure: officials answer carefully, suspects vanish violently, and the investigation becomes as much about missing people as known facts.

As heard by us

A spare, skeptical look at the killings that followed Bhutto's assassination.

This episode begins with Benazir Bhutto's assassination and follows the violent deaths that came after it. The strongest thread is the simple one at the center of the story: five jihadis, a bodyguard, and a police officer all end up dead, while the intelligence questions around…

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Follow the deaths that kept the Bhutto case from staying closed.

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