Benazir Bhutto assassination case: Delays in legal process frustrate Bhutto’s heirs

The case has proceeded slowly compared to other high-profile murders.

LAHORE: The Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) Rawalpindi is yet to come to any conclusions in the case of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto assassination, despite a lapse of more than a year and a half.

Bhutto’s family are disappointed that the trial continues to linger, thus amounting in effect to a suspension of justice, the special prosecutor of the case said.

The application was moved by M Azhar Chaudhry, the special prosecutor on behalf of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the federal government. The trial court has failed so far to decide on the petition, which has been pending in the court for almost two years.

According to Section 19, Sub-Section 7 of ATA, 1997, “the Court shall, on taking cognizance of the case proceed with the trial court from day-to-day and shall decide the case within seven days, failing which an application may be made to the administrative Judge of High Court concerned, for appropriate directions for expeditious disposal of the case to meet the end of justice.”

The special prosecutor said that said the trial has not been completed due to inadequate excuses from the accused party. By contrast, the assassination trial of former Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer was decided within eight months.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 5^th,  2011.