Benazir murder case: Court issues arrest warrants for ex-FIA official for no-show

The official was supposed to record statement in the case

RAWALPINDI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Rawalpindi on Monday issued arrest warrants for a former official of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for failing to show up to record his statement in the Benazir Bhutto assassination case.

ATC-I Judge Muhammad Ayub Marth issued arrest warrants for Ghulam Asghar Jatoi, a former FIA deputy director and a prosecution witness, in the case after he did not appear before the court despite repeated summons.

The court put off the hearing till April 16 and directed the police to arrest the prosecution witness and produce him before the court.

FIA Special Public Prosecutor Chaudhry Azhar Ali told the court Jatoi has shifted to his native village in Punu Aqil after retirement. He told the court that the former FIA official has requested the prosecutor to seek time from the court with a promise that he would appear during the next hearing.

The FIA prosecutor said that Jatoi had arrested two accused in the case — former CPO Syed Saud Aziz and former SP Khurram Shehzad — and had obtained their physical remand from a court of law besides gatherings other evidences in the case.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 12^th, 2016.