On the Grand Trunk Road (55 page)
Read On the Grand Trunk Road Online
Authors: Steve Coll
By writing down her accusations against Musharraf, Benazir Bhutto insured that she would be heard from beyond the grave. The People’s Party has adopted her October 16 e-mail to Mark Siegel—“I have been made to feel insecure”—as her “dying declaration,” as Zardari put it. The party has demanded that the murder be investigated by the United Nations, in a manner similar to the UN investigation into the murder of the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who was killed by a car bomb in an attack that may have had support from Syrian intelligence. Musharraf has rejected these demands, although he did agree, in an effort to calm some of the criticism against him, to invite detectives from Scotland Yard to help in the investigation.
On January 3, Musharraf held a press conference in Islamabad to defend himself against the accusatory ghost of Benazir Bhutto. The president wore a suit and tie and sat at a table by himself; he displayed his familiar bluff confidence, but at times he sounded defensive. “I have been brought up in a very educated and civilized family, which believes in values, which believes in principles, which believes in character,” he said at one point. “My family is not a family that believes in killing people.”
Musharraf said Bhutto had ignored warnings that campaign rallies had become too dangerous, and he blamed her for standing recklessly in the open air to greet her supporters. As for Bhutto’s suspicions that Pakistan’s military or intelligence agencies might have been involved in a conspiracy against her—or that people in those agencies might secretly support the Pakistani Islamists who apparently carried out the murder—Musharraf dismissed such thinking as “a joke.” He said that he and his administration had nothing to hide. “Nobody is involved from the government or agency side,” he declared. In the previous three months, Musharraf pointed out, suicide bombers had carried out nineteen attacks inside the country. They had killed not only Bhutto but also officeholders in his party, soldiers, and police. Was this target list not adequate evidence, he asked, that the country’s Islamists had an agenda of their own? With apparent sincerity, he said, “No intelligence organization of Pakistan is capable of indoctrinating a man to blow himself up.”
Acknowledgments
T
his book is in many ways a product of the kindness of strangers. Across my travels, and occasionally in some difficult spots, I was hosted, fed, escorted, aided, advised, protected, harangued, and deservedly admonished by scores of South Asians who had no reason to be helpful other than their own generosity.
his book is in many ways a product of the kindness of strangers. Across my travels, and occasionally in some difficult spots, I was hosted, fed, escorted, aided, advised, protected, harangued, and deservedly admonished by scores of South Asians who had no reason to be helpful other than their own generosity.
Rama Lakshmi, my researcher and translator in New Delhi, contributed immensely to much of the reporting in this book. She found many of the Indian characters who appear in the preceding pages, helped me to interview them, contributed ideas about what they said, and conducted much original research on her own. The reporting on Chopta village, particularly, belongs very much to her, although there and elsewhere she should not be held responsible for my writing, interpretations, and opinions.
Similarly, Kamran Khan, the Post’s stringer in Karachi and Pakistan’s most accomplished investigative reporter, was an invaluable friend and guide across the border and was the source of a steady stream of tips and ideas that became the basis of reporting and writing in the book.
I also leaned during my travels on the company, ideas, and advice of other talented South Asian journalists and writers, notably Ahmed Rashid, Najam Sethi, Ghulam Nabi Khayal, Surjit Bhalla, Shekhar Gupta, and Dinesh Kumar.
Ned Desmond of
Time
magazine and Mark Fineman of the
Los Angeles Times,
taught me a great deal during the time when this book was reported. Fineman was a frequent and generous traveling companion who contributed in many ways to my work, not least by being a staunch friend. Other colleagues from South Asia’s exceptional press corps who went well out of their way to help at one time or another are Michael Battye, Bill Tarrant, Malcolm Davidson, Ruth Pritchard, Anita Pratap, Bob Nickelsberg, Art Max, Bob Drogin, Lyse Doucet, Cathy Gannon, the late Sharon Herbaugh, Peter Heinlein, Tim McGirk, Derek Brown, Ed Gargan, and Chris Thomas. Gary Thomas deserves special thanks for rescuing me several times from the grim fate of boarding at the Islamabad Hotel.
Time
magazine and Mark Fineman of the
Los Angeles Times,
taught me a great deal during the time when this book was reported. Fineman was a frequent and generous traveling companion who contributed in many ways to my work, not least by being a staunch friend. Other colleagues from South Asia’s exceptional press corps who went well out of their way to help at one time or another are Michael Battye, Bill Tarrant, Malcolm Davidson, Ruth Pritchard, Anita Pratap, Bob Nickelsberg, Art Max, Bob Drogin, Lyse Doucet, Cathy Gannon, the late Sharon Herbaugh, Peter Heinlein, Tim McGirk, Derek Brown, Ed Gargan, and Chris Thomas. Gary Thomas deserves special thanks for rescuing me several times from the grim fate of boarding at the Islamabad Hotel.
Sumit Ganguly of Hunter College and Philip Oldenburg of Columbia University took time from busy schedules to read the book in manuscript form. They saved me from countless blunders, offered many helpful suggestions, and occasionally managed to straighten out my wrong-headed notions. Both also endured long conversations with me about South Asia, at a point when I was preparing to write. I have pilfered shamelessly some of the ideas generated during those talks. I owe each of them a deep debt, but neither should be held responsible for what I have written.
Others who sat patiently with my tape recorder to talk specifically about some of the material in the book, and whose ideas I have borrowed from, include Neelan Tiruchelvam, Shekhar Gupta, Arun Shourie, Manmohan Singh, and Anil Ambani.
Bob Thompson, editor of
The Washington
Post’s magazine, interrupted what was meant to be a peaceful sabbatical to read the manuscript. As always, his suggestions were graceful and of great value. He also helped to develop some of the material in the book at an earlier stage, as did
Post
editors David Ignatius and Steve Luxenberg. The
Post’s
Glenn Frankel took time from a sabbatical to read the manuscript and offered helpful advice.
The Washington
Post’s magazine, interrupted what was meant to be a peaceful sabbatical to read the manuscript. As always, his suggestions were graceful and of great value. He also helped to develop some of the material in the book at an earlier stage, as did
Post
editors David Ignatius and Steve Luxenberg. The
Post’s
Glenn Frankel took time from a sabbatical to read the manuscript and offered helpful advice.
Leonard Downie, Bob Kaiser, and Don Graham at the Post contributed to my general well-being during the time the book was reported and written. I owe Mike Getler, my boss at the paper, an incalculable debt for his creative management and support.
Ann Godoff at Random House shepherded the manuscript with rare humor, intelligence, and professionalism. Random House’s copy editors were exceptionally thorough and thoughtful. Melanie Jackson performed her usual wizardry as a literary agent and offered advice and support well beyond that role.
To Susan, Ally, Emma, and Max, thanks for all of it.
Index
Abbas, Zafar
Abdullah, Farooq
Abdullah, Tahira
Abedi, Agha Hasan
adultery
Advani, Lal Krishna
affirmative action programs: for lower castes; for Muslims; reactions to ; results of ; Sri Lanka and
Afghanistan; cold war conflict and ; conspiracy theories in; democracy in ; ethnic conflict in; guerrilla warfare in ; middle class in; mujaheddin rebels, U.S. military support ; mujaheddin victory in war ; Najibullah revolution; Pakistani involvement in war ; poverty in; Soviet invasion of; Soviet withdrawal from ; warring culture in
Africa
agriculture
Ahiliyabhai (princess)
Ahmed, Munir
Ahmed, Saleem
Akbar (Mughal emperor)
Ali, Jam Sadiq
Ambani, Anil
Ambani, Dhirubhai
Amin, Hafizullah
Andhra Pradesh, India
Ansari, Abbas
Anwar, Raja
Any Old Iron
(Burgess)
(Burgess)
Arafat, Yasser
Artis, Mark Alphonzo: connection to Iran; connection to Zia ul-Haq crash ; detained by Pakistan ; FBI investigation of
Asia Society
Asia Watch
Assam, India
assassinations, political; Indira Gandhi; Iranians and; Liberation Tigers and; Mohandas Gandhi ; Premadasa; Rajiv Gandhi ; Soviet generals in Afghanistan
Aurangzeb (Mughal emperor)
Awasthi, Suresh
Ayodhya Mosque
Bahawalpur army base (Pakistan)
Baluchistan, Pakistan
Bangladesh; counterinsurgency campaigns; cyclone of 1991; democracy in ; economic reform; fishing industry; independence ; Islamic radicalism in; middle class in; political economy ; political elites; poverty in ; rural development
Bank of Commerce and Credit International (BCCI)
Bank of England
banks
Baral, Raj
Bari, Ahmed Abdul
Bastian, Sunil
Beg, Aslam
Benarsi, Naseer
Bengal, India
Bhagavad Gita
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, India)
Bhutto, Benazir; and conspiracy theories; and death of Zia ul-Haq; and democracy ; deposed as prime minister; education; elected prime minister ; and father’s death ; and Islamic radicalism ; and martial law regime; and murder of Rajiv Gandhi; opponents of; personalization of politics; as prime minister ; “Radcliffe Benazir” and “Larkana Benazir”; relationship with Western world
Bhutto, Zulfikar Ali: death of; as prime minister
Bihar, India: banditry in; feudal landlords in
Birendra (king of Nepal); and democracy movement
Birla, Aditya
Biswas, Binoy Krishna
Black Cat commandos (India)
Bombay, India
Bradley, Ed
Brahmins
Branigin, Bill
Brezhnev, Leonid I.
Brezhnev Doctrine
bribes
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
British Empire; co-optation of local rulers ; independence from; introduction of private property ; mediation of conflicts under ; and Nepal; political legacy of; resistance to rule of
Bugti, Nawab
Burgess, Anthony
Burma
Buruma, Ian
Bush, George
Bush administration
Cable News Network (CNN)
Calcutta, India
Cannistraro, Vince
capitalism: Afghanistan and; American; and caste systems ; and democracy; India and ; Nehru and; Pakistan and; “shock therapy”; South Asian transition to ; Sri Lanka and. See
also
economic reform
also
economic reform
Carter, Jimmy
Casey, William J.
caste system; affirmative action programs; attempts to abolish; discrimination; economic position of untouchables ; persistence of ; and political fractiousness; riots of 1990; in Sri Lanka
Castro, Fidel
Chand, Lal
Chandra, Praveen
Chandrahasan, S. C.
Charles (prince of Wales)
childbirth
children
China; capitalist reforms in ; middle class in; occupation of Tibet; Tiananmen Square massacre
Chittagong, Bangladesh
Chola, Raja
Chopta, India: employment in ; health care in; poverty in; rural development programs
Christians
cities: caste roles in; employment in; migration to
clan identities
Clifford, Clark M.
cold war; influence on Afghanistan ; influence on India; influence on Nepal; influence on Pakistan
Colombo, Sri Lanka
communism: Afghanistan and; Nehruvian state and; Nepal and; Sri Lanka and
Communist parties
Congress Party (India); Ambani family and; criminal gangs and; in election of 1990; and Hindu-Muslim violence; Indira Gandhi and; Nehru and ; Rajiv Gandhi and; Rajiv Gandhi’s death and; Soviet KGB and
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