Murder case: Benazir’s unperformed autopsy in court debate

LHC bench defers convicting police officers; orders their release on bail

RAWALPINDI: A division bench of the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) Rawalpindi bench postponed convicting two police officers in the Benazir Bhutto murder case on Thursday.

The bench, comprising Justice Tariq Abbasi and Justice Habibullah, also ordered the release of former DIG Saud Aziz and SP Khurram Shehzad on bail, setting sureties worth Rs200,000 each. They are expected to be released on Friday (today).

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Lawyers appearing on behalf of the accused, Azam Nazir Tarar and Raja Ghaneem Abir contended that the two police officers had “not committed any crime”. The crime scene, they said, had been washed “after collecting evidence”.

The SP is a career officer, whose promotion was stopped. The CPO had retired, but his pension and other benefits had been withheld. The CPO was not responsible for arranging post-mortem examination. Except for Benazir Bhutto, post-mortems of all deceased had been performed. Permission for the post-mortem was requested from the then chief of PPP, but he declined.

When the court asked if it was necessary to seek permission for the post-mortem, the defence counsel said that if the cause of the death was established, there was no need for a post-mortem examination at all. The heirs, he said, never applied for a post-mortem or exhumation of the body.

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Inspector Azmat Dogar was in-charge of security, but he was not included in the investigation. Police officers arrested five accused.

Assuring the court of continued cooperation of the accused, their lawyers said that the police officers concerned had been released on bail and they did not misuse their freedom, adding that they should be released on bail until a decision on appeals.

PPP’s lawyer Sardar Lateef Khan Khosa pleaded that under the terrorist act, a convict cannot be granted bail.

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Like Pervez Musharraf, both police officers were directly accused of a conspiracy.

The CPO, he said, had been brought into a “small range from a large range” to execute the conspiracy.

According to him, five other accused had been acquitted in fear of backlash from terrorists. Their confessions and telephone data were ignored, he contended.

Omitting post-mortem, he said, was part of the conspiracy.

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He said that Pervez Musharraf’s case had been detached from other accused illegally.

The CPO, he said, allowed a safe exit to terrorists, allowing them to breach security and execute the suicide attack.

Terming the post-mortem examination crucial, Khosa said that both police officers had been awarded “cosmetic punishments”.

When the court asked if there was any conflict in the cause of the death, Khosa said the government believed that the death was caused after Benazir’s head struck the gear lever.

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He urged the court to reject bail applications.

PPP leaders Nayyar Hussain Bukhari, Khalid Nawaz Boby, Zumarrud Khan, Malik Hakimeen, Iftikhar Chowdhry, Babar Jadoon, Shehzad Kosar Gilani, Banaras Chaudhry, Shahid Mughal, Asad Abbasi, Malik Zaheer Arshad also attended the court session.