PHOTO: AFP
ISLAMABAD:
The top court has dismissed a petition seeking cancellation of bail granted to two convicted police officers – Saud Aziz and Khurram Shahzad – in the Benazir Bhutto murder case.
“In the peculiar circumstances we don't find any reason to interfere with the Lahore High Court (LHC), therefore, the petition is dismissed,” said the order issued on Friday by a two-judge Supreme Court bench – comprising Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah.
The bench was hearing plea of Rashida Bibi, widow of former premier Benazir Bhutto’s security guard Akram Kaira, who had died alongside Benazir in the Liaqat National Bagh blast on December 27, 2007.
The widow had challenged the LHC Rawalpindi bench order to grant bail to two police officials who were convicted on August 31, 2017 by an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in the assassination case.
Saud Aziz was the police chief of Rawalpindi when Bhutto was killed while Khurram Shahzad was superintendent of police (SP) at Rawal Town. They had been awarded 17-year imprisonment for negligence in security arrangements which led to the assassination. However, the LHC on October 5, 2017 suspended the ATC order regarding their conviction and granted them bail.
The case was fixed before the apex court soon after an interesting dialogue between Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar and senior PPP lawyers during hearing of fake bank accounts case on Sep 25.
When the CJP had noted that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) failed to hold effective inquiry into Benazir murder case during its tenure, the PPP’s lawyer Sardar Latif Khosa had told him that all the accused had been acquitted while two convicted police officers had got bails and the plea regarding cancelation of their bail was pending in the apex court.
Benazir murder case: Bail granted to two cops challenged in SC
The CJP had said he was unaware of the petition and noted that the PPP might move an application for early hearing of the case. Interestingly, the PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also came to the Supreme Court on Friday for the first time to witness the court’s proceedings.
The court noted that after hearing the parties and perusing record to see whether the LHC was justified to exercise constitutional jurisdiction under Article 199 for the purpose of granting bail and suspending the ruling, there is a judgment of the apex court in Khan Asfandyar Wali case. According to that jurisdiction of the high court to grant bail through statutory provision was never ousted.
The court noted that as per the impugned judgment the main accused have been acquitted, while the allegations levelled against the respondents is not that of committing the murder but regarding the privy to the office. The bench also noted that there were no allegations of misuse/abuse of bail.
During the hearing, the Additional Attorney General Nayyar Rizvi on behalf of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) supported the LHC order to grant bail.
The bench wondered why the police did not investigate into washing of the crime scene. Justice Khosa asked Khurram Shahzad’s attorney Azam Tarar that under whose instruction the crime scene was washed, adding that this was the point from where investigation could have started.
Justice Khosa also noted that a BBC documentary has done better investigation into the BB murder case than the law enforcement agencies. Latif Khosa, counsel for the applicant, said the LHC passed a wrong judgment in going into the merits of the case to suspend the sentences of these officials.
“Such an application has never been entertained by courts to suspend the sentence in such a short span of time. The Supreme Court needs to rectify the wrong committed by the high court,” he said. However, the bench rejected the petition after hearing all the parties.
After the hearing, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari told media men his family has old relationship with the Supreme Court and three generations of the Bhutto family are seeking justice from the same institution.
He also wished to become a party in the cases of Zulfikar and Benazir Bhutto so that he could follow up on their progress. He said when his father was the president, he had sent a reference to then chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry about the Zulfikar Bhutto case which has not been heard until today.
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