Acquittee in Benazir murder case disappears from Lahore jail
ATC had acquitted suspect Hussain in August 2017
PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS
An accused in the murder case of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto on Tuesday was reported as missing from Lahore's Kot Lakhpat jail, reported Express News.
The accused’s father filed a plea to the Rawalpindi bench in the Lahore High Court (LHC) and claimed his son had gone missing from the the prison. He maintained that his son, Rafaqat Hussain, was acquitted in the murder case but was still being detained in jail.
Benazir Bhutto: a life that mirrored Pakistan’s turbulence
Justice Sadaqat Ali Khan accepted the application for hearing and issued a notice to the local senior police official and directed for a reply to be submitted on July 16.
An ATC had acquitted Hussain in August 2017, however, he was kept in detention.
Earlier, an anti-terrorism court acquitted five accused for lack of evidence and branded former military ruler Pervez Musharraf a fugitive.
ATC Judge Mohammad Asghar Khan found two police officers guilty of ‘mishandling the crime scene’, making them the only people to have been convicted over the assassination of Benazir in a gun and suicide attack in Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007.
Benazir assassination: Top cops jailed; five suspects acquitted
The judge not only declared Musharraf a ‘proclaimed offender’, but also ordered confiscation of his property. Musharraf is alleged to have been part of a broad conspiracy to have his political rival killed before elections. He has denied the allegation.
In 2013, Musharraf was charged with murder, criminal conspiracy for murder, and facilitation for murder. But he has been in self-imposed exile in Dubai ever since a travel ban was lifted three years later.
The accused’s father filed a plea to the Rawalpindi bench in the Lahore High Court (LHC) and claimed his son had gone missing from the the prison. He maintained that his son, Rafaqat Hussain, was acquitted in the murder case but was still being detained in jail.
Benazir Bhutto: a life that mirrored Pakistan’s turbulence
Justice Sadaqat Ali Khan accepted the application for hearing and issued a notice to the local senior police official and directed for a reply to be submitted on July 16.
An ATC had acquitted Hussain in August 2017, however, he was kept in detention.
Earlier, an anti-terrorism court acquitted five accused for lack of evidence and branded former military ruler Pervez Musharraf a fugitive.
ATC Judge Mohammad Asghar Khan found two police officers guilty of ‘mishandling the crime scene’, making them the only people to have been convicted over the assassination of Benazir in a gun and suicide attack in Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007.
Benazir assassination: Top cops jailed; five suspects acquitted
The judge not only declared Musharraf a ‘proclaimed offender’, but also ordered confiscation of his property. Musharraf is alleged to have been part of a broad conspiracy to have his political rival killed before elections. He has denied the allegation.
In 2013, Musharraf was charged with murder, criminal conspiracy for murder, and facilitation for murder. But he has been in self-imposed exile in Dubai ever since a travel ban was lifted three years later.