Bhatti’s assassination: FIR content seen as contradictory

The report calls the minister’s brother an eyewitness.

ISLAMABAD:

Contradictory contents of the First Investigation Report (FIR) registered in the assassination of minister for minority affairs Shahbaz Bhatti could lead to the safe acquittal of culprits, police sources believe.

Officials told The Express Tribune that the FIR calls Sikandar Bhatti, brother of the assassinated minister, an eyewitness despite the fact that he was not present at the time the minister was attacked.

“None of the minister’s brothers were present in Islamabad at the time of his murder rather it is on record that the authorities kept on waiting for his brother, living in Faisalabad,” an official said. Sources said Sikandar Bhatti’s statement recorded in the FIR states that he was in a car, which was tailing the deceased minister’s car.

The FIR further states that according to Sikandar the attackers forced him and MPA Tahir Naveed, who was with him, to stay inside the car, threatening the two with dire consequences.

Sources however said that the minister’s driver Gul Sher, who was also present at the crime scene, did not mention anything about Sikandar’s presence at the time of Bhatti’s assassination, adding that Sikandar could be the plaintiff of the case but his statement about being an eyewitness could damage the legal proceedings in a court of law. “His statement about his presence at the time of attack is not true as he was in Faisalabad,” an official said.

Another official said that once the statement of the plaintiff is challenged by the culprits, if they are arrested, it would be difficult for the police to pursue appropriate legal action as he is not a real witness.

“It is strange that although senior police officers were aware of the fact that Sikandar was not accompanying the minister, they let the investigation officer believe his statement,” a source said.

Sources said that the deceased minister’s driver is the real witness of the attack but he would not be helpful as the plaintiff’s statement leads to doubts.

An official said that it is already difficult to establish the identity of the murderers as the driver has expressed his inability to recognise the attackers and Sikandar’s statement would create more complications.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 4^th, 2011.