Benazir Bhutto assassination case: Former CPO changes lawyer to delay indictment
An anti-terrorism court could not formally indict the seven accused in the Benazir Bhutto assassination case on Saturday after one of them changed his lawyer.
Special Judge Shahid Rafique adjourned the hearing till September 17, after Salman Safdar, the new lawyer for former city police officer Saud Aziz sought time under section 265-D of the criminal procedure code to prepare his client’s defence.
Meanwhile, investigators included American broadcaster Mark Siegel, a close friend of the former prime minister, in the list of prosecution witnesses to use his testimony against former president Pervez Musharraf.
Talking to the media after the adjournment, the public prosecutor said investigators had recorded Siegel’s statement about the threatening phone call by Musharraf to dissuade Benazir from returning to Pakistan before the 2008 general elections.
According to official sources, Deputy Director FIA Azad Khan recorded the statement of the former lobbyist for Benazir in the USA.
The journalist has reportedly confirmed that Musharraf made the threatening call and that Benazir had expressed fear for her life.
The other six accused, who have not yet been charged with murder, are former SP Khurram Shahzad, Hasnain Gul, Rafaqat Hussain, Rasheed Ahmed, Sher Zaman and Aitzaz Shah.
On the last date of hearing, the trial court ordered the FIA to confiscate Musharraf’s movable and immovable property after he was declared a proclaimed offender.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 11th, 2011.
COMMENTS (30)
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@Dilu: Mahajirs are forced to call themselves mahajirs as Butto intoduced quota system and barred them from joinining military and government jobs.
Musharraf always boasted about being brave. To disprove his utterings were not merely theatrical sound and noise, he should return and face the music. By grandstanding from afar he is no different than the MQM leadership in London.
@pakistani:
true say! Rehman Malik the one man comedy show, for ever promising "fool proof" security and saying anything, everthing, anywhere and everywhere, instead of helping his leader, he was the first to run and hide after the attack on Benazir Bhutto.*
@Karachiwala: Zia was not tried because he was killed in uniform. As long as Musharraf was in uniform he was also not tried. Your comment is very much againt reality and appears to be meant for fueling ethnic violance in Pakistan.
musharraf is innocent.. rehman malik and benazir ppp security team is to blame for her death.. if she was in the car she would have been safe. One would think that after a suicide attempt on karsaz ..which she survived ..who would think she would come out of the vehicle. failure on her part and the ppl in the car travelling with her. They should never have let her come out. stop blaming musharraf. by the time the next election will come. PPP government would blame its entire failures of the past 5 years on Musharraf.. Nobody can touch musharraf.. former army chief.. nobody has the guts to touch him.. and the army would never let these hypocrite corrupt politicians touch him..
@karachiwala, Zia wasn't tried for his crimes because he exploded mid air along with a crate if mangoes and the top brass of the armed forces! Why do you have to perpetuate this self-pity and victim mentality? Do you realize that if Muhajirs weren't so conscious and vocal about being Muhajirs, half the people would only think of them as Karachi walas! It's actually all because of the London wala Britisher who is pulling all these strings. Imagine his love for a country he doesn't live in nor is a citizen of! Then talk about the county doing anything for Muhajirs!
Mark Segal testimony has no legal status as he himself did not listen whatever Musharraf told to BB,The emails are not evidence it is just a joke and waste of money from PPP
@Karachiwala: Sorry Zia was also a "muhajir" if that would satisfy you, his family originated from East Punjab, Nawaz brothers have Kashmiri background, most of the Pakistani Media Mughals, Businessmen, intellectuals and politicians and scientists are or were refugees from across the border. Except for the feudel landlord politicians, Ayub Khan, Yahaya Khan, Bhutto. Most of the senior officers of the armed forces, Navy, Airforce and Army are "muhajir", 99% of so called muhajir are patriotic cirizens and defenders of this land. The miscreants, just like the anti state elements from other "ethnic" groups are the ones led by chameleon figures working for and funded by foreign agendas. In todays economic climate foreign money talks and poor pakistanis are forced or brainwashed to walk the tight rope of death.
Musharraf is a national hero, no one can damage him.
@Karachiwala & @grinz09: seriously? It's okay to let someone's crimes go unpunished because of where they are from? That is such a messed up point of view. Why are you discriminating against muhajirs? They left India to come to Pakistan. They helped create Pakistan, YOUR COUNTRY. They left India because they WANTED to be Pakistani and you are discriminating against them now? This kind of mentality is one of the reasons why our society is so corrupt.
@Zaka: ameen
@omer: I agree
@Sad: yes, yes, yes! and even now when many of us realized the GOOD he did for Pakistan, we still have people shunning him.
WAKE UP PAKISTAN.
Musharraf government provided VVIP level security to BB. Liaqat Bagh, the venue of the political rally, was completely secured with hundreds of policemen and commandos deputed. Who asked BB to open the sun-roof of the bomb-proof SUV and play the crowd outside Liaqat Bagh on the open road where suicide bombers were ready to blast themselves who failed to enter Liaqat Bagh because of stringent securit arrangements? Why so much propaganda against Mush? Judiciary want to malign him so as to pay back PML-N for what they did for the restoration of PCO judges. Why do you not publish my comments ET?
@Karachiwala @grinz09
He rose through the ranks and assumed the highest position in the country, and you say the country never owned him??
That must be the joke of the century!!
@Karachiwala: I agree 100%.
@Feroz: Because interpol will act only when concrete evidence is received.
Siegel was hired by BB and paid huge sums from our tax payers money to prop up her image.
This information is old news and his testimony isn't a "smoking gun". What amazes me is that a national hero of Pakistan can be assassinated and the country doesn't do squat - it took the UN to investigate the murder. Shame on Pakistan.
Musharraf - Allah bless and protect you from all these evils
Mr. Musharaf you will face the music not because you are guilty but because you are a mohajir. Nobody tried Zia for his crimes because he was a punjabi. The country you want to die for is the country who never owned you
Why has the Government not got Interpol to issue a red corner notice ?
Yes even the Scotland Yard report for Liaqat Ali Kahn is still under investigation!!!
Joke..
Damnn.. Mark was sleeping for almost three years...!
How come Musharraf is implicated in BB murder's case?
Its like the complaint system is overburdened so much that it has choked and now everything is on halt.
Needs a serious By-Pass Surgery ... But Nation awaits a Surgeon.
To indians complaining about the delay in the prosecution of the Mumbai terrorist acts, I say we Pakistanis are so impartial: we have neither completed the prosecution of the murder of Shaheed Mauhtrama Bhutto.
Pls wait...u r in a queue!
Good God! Please stop it! Here MQM and ZM allegations are not resolved, now new topic is ready to be discussed on forum and accusing each other parties.
Seems never endingSigh