Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s hanging on April 4, 1979, was such a last minute operation, that even the hangman did not travel in his usual way.
There are conflicting reports on whether Tara Masih was the only hangman employed at the time. Some reports suggest that his relative Sadiq Masih was offered the job but refused.
What is known beyond doubt its that Tara was in Bahawalpur on April 2, when he was told that he was urgently needed in Rawalpindi. He was not told who he was going to hang.
The orders were so urgent that Masih was taken to Rawalpindi on a special aeroplane, the first such journey of his life.
His compensation for hanging Pakistan’s popularly elected prime minister was to be a total of Rs25.
When he reached Rawalpindi’s now demolished Central Jail on the morning of April 3, he was locked up in a cell.
Bhutto was informed later in the day that his hanging was just seven hours away. Although he protested that he should have been informed at least 24 hours in advance, there was little else to be done.
His wife and daughter were allowed to meet him in his prison cell without the knowledge that it would be their last meeting.
The PPP chairman was offered time to write down his will. However, accounts suggest that he wrote and then burnt what he had written just hours before he was taken to the gallows.
Although hangings normally take place around dawn, Bhutto’s hanging was brought forward by a few hours.
After he was carted on a stretcher to the gallows, about 250m from his jail call, Bhutto was hanged just after 2am on April 4.
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