Benazir assassination case: Physical remand of police suspects ordered

Public prosecutor tells LHC that investigators also want to secure personal effects of the slain PPP leader.

ISLAMABAD: The Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday directed an anti-terrorism court (ATC) to extend physical remand of two police officers detained in the Benazir Bhutto assassination case to federal investigators.

The orders were passed after an LHC division bench, comprising Justice Rauf Ahmed Sheikh and Justice Shahid Hameed Dar, took up an application filed by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for securing the police officials’ physical remand.

The application, challenging the judicial remand granted by the ATC, was filed on January 9.

During the course of the hearing, public prosecutors Chaudhary Azhar and Chaudhay Zulfiqar told the court that extension of physical remand of both police officials was “very essential” to determine “real culprits”.

Chaudhary Zulfiqar argued that ATC Judge Rana Nisar Ahmed had sent the police officials on judicial remand on December 29, leaving the JIT’s investigation incomplete.

He said that the FIA team wanted to further question the detained police officials, adding that they were also trying to recover cell phones used by them on the day of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination.

Detailed analysis of the cellular phones would determine who had contacted them on December 27, 2007, adding that their phones were continuously busy before and after Benazir Bhutto’s death.

He also said that the investigators also wanted to secure personal effects of the slain PPP leader, including her cell phone, shoes, clothes worn by her at the time of her murder.

According to law, Zulfiqar contended that the JIT could get a physical remand of 30 days, but the ATC had given a remand of just six days.

He argued that both officials were “equally responsible for the death of the former premier since they failed to provide adequate security and (eliminated vital evidence) by hosing down the crime scene”.

Malik Rafiq, the counsel for the police officials, insisted that there was no need for physical remand as his clients had already handed over their cell phones to the police. He said that neither of the police official had any direct link with the murder.

Later, the division bench ordered the counsel of the police officials to appear before the court on January 13.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 14^th, 2011.