Nearly a decade after former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was killed in a gun and bomb attack a Pakistani Anti-Terrorism Court sentenced two police officers to 17 years imprisonment and declared former president Pervez Musharraf an absconder for his absence from court proceedings.
However, the court exonerated five accused militants of all charges against them in the murder of Bhutto who was killed on December 27, 2007 upon her return to Pakistan from a years-long exile.
Former president and retired general Musharraf, who is also a suspect in the case, was declared an absconder for not appearing before the court. The judge has ordered confiscation of his property in the country.
Judge Asghar Khan sentenced former Rawalpindi CPO deputy inspector general of police Saud Aziz and former Rawal Town Superintendent of Police Khurram Shahzad to 17 years imprisonment each. They were also ordered to pay a fine of Rs0.5 million each. Both men were present in the courtroom to hear the verdict and were taken into custody soon after the judgement was delivered.
Benazir Bhutto, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chief and two-time former prime minister, was assassinated in an apparent suicide and gun attack at an election campaign rally in Rawalpindi, considered a security zone near the capital and military headquarters.
An FIR of the incident was registered on behalf of the state following which the murder trial of five suspects began in February 2008.
But after the PPP won the 2008 elections, the investigation was handed over to the Federal Investigation Agency.
During Wednesday’s hearing, FIA prosecutor Chaudhry Azhar said then PPP leader Babar Awan was in Bhutto’s backup vehicle, which was under the control of party leader Farhatullah Babar. He added that when the investigation was handed over to the FIA, the vehicle was recovered from Zardari House in Islamabad.
Musharraf’s appearance before the court was excused as he had threats against his life from al-Qaeda, Azhar said.
“Of the 121 witnesses, statements of only 68 were recorded,” he informed the court.
On Tuesday, suspects Hussain Gul and Rafaqat’s legal counsel Jawad Khalid told the court that the statements received from his clients hold Musharraf, among others, responsible for the crime. He also claimed that there is no solid evidence against his clients. There is a conflict between investigating officers’ statements and the weapons recovered from the crime scene, he added.
“This raises suspicions,” he remarked, adding that the court should show mercy towards the innocent. “The real culprits are not being punished for the crime,” the counsel claimed.
FIA prosecutor Khawaja Asif accepted that there is no record of the suspects in the DNA report.
The statements of those injured in the attack have yet to be recorded and the postmortem of the bodies was not done, the lawyer pointed out.
From the three SIMs which were seized, two were not registered in any citizen’s name while the third SIM’s ownership was not investigated, the court was informed.
