APROPOS the letter (Sept 13). It seems that two important aspects have been overlooked by Naziha Syed Ali in her report and the subsequent letter writers. These are as follows:

The widows of the ambassador and the military attache did not demand an investigation into the death of their husbands. The ambasador’s widow, Robin Raphel, was later ‘rewarded’ by an ambassadorial appointment.

American law requires that the FBI inquire into the death of any US citizen who is killed abroad in suspicious circumstances. Soon after the Bahawalpur incident, a FBI team was bound for Pakistan to investigate the killing of the US ambassador and the military attaché, but curiously the US State Department asked the FBI not to take action in the matter. This is what I read in newspapers at the time.

Denouncing the conspiracy theory is itself a part of the theory.

Shameem Ahmad

Karachi

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2018