Benazir murder case: Prosecution wants Musharraf to appear

Says ex-president has been declared proclaimed offender, cannot be exempted from appearance

RAWALPINDI: Prosecution lawyers in the Benazir Bhutto murder case on Monday filed an application asking the trial court to summon former President Pervez Musharraf to record his statement as a suspect

Anti-terrorism Court Rai Muhammad Ayub Khan Marth issued notices to Musharraf’s lawyer Barrister Farokh Naseem to appear in court on January 2 and present arguments on the application of the prosecution.

Filed through Special Public Prosecutor Chaudhry Muhammad Azhar, the application asked the court to summon Musharraf to record a statement under Section 342 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).

“The prosecution has closed the evidence and the case is now at the stage of examination of suspect under Section 342. It is pertinent to state that the court can put questions to a suspect only regarding prosecution evidence for which personal appearance of the suspect  is required under the law,” the prosecutor maintained in the application.

The prosecutor added that another court in Islamabad had already declared Musharraf a proclaimed offender in a separate case. In such an extraordinary situation, the prosecutor asked, how can he be represented by his lawyer in court.

The prosecution lawyer prayed the court to withdraw the exemption from personal appearance previously granted to Musharraf under section 205 of CrPC.

The Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) investigation report had accused Musharraf of conspiring to murder former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and facilitating the murderers. The former military ruler, however, had denied the charges.

The trial court has yet to provide questionnaires to the suspects in the case. The questionnaires are to have all charges against the suspect listed and the suspects would respond to the questions in their statements. Benazir Bhutto was killed nine years ago in a suicide bomb blast outside Liaqat Bagh in Rawalpindi soon after she addressed a public rally.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 20^th, 2016.