Bugti murder case: Counsel, son reject Shaukat Aziz’s claim of ‘no involvement’

Former premier, in a letter to Balochistan police, said he had no role in killing.

ISLAMABAD:


The counsel pleading Nawab Akbar Bugti’s murder case against former president Pervez Musharraf and five other co-accused in the Balochistan High Court (BHC), has rejected former prime minister Shaukat Aziz’s claim of not being involved in the 2006 military operation that led to the killing of the Baloch leader.


Aziz, a co-accused, wrote a letter to the Balochistan police in November last year claiming innocence in the murder case.

Nawabzada Jamil Bugti, the eldest son of the slain Baloch nationalist leader, has refused to accept Aziz’s letter, Advocate Abdul Shakil Hadi, the counsel for the petitioner told The Express Tribune.

In the letter, presented before the BHC by the investigation team, Aziz denied having played any role in Bugti’s murder, saying he learnt about the killing through a news channel.


The letter has no legal value, Hadi said, adding, “For us, it is just a piece of paper. Shaukat Aziz should make this statement before the police or a magistrate under section 164 CrPC. His letter will not satisfy us.”

“What will satisfy us, however, is all the accused, including Musharraf, Aziz, former provincial governor Owais Ghani, former Balochistan chief minister Jam Muhammad Yousaf, former interior minister Aftab Ahmed Sherpao, a sitting member of the Balochistan Assembly and then provincial home minister Shoaib Nousherwani are sent to the gallows,” Hadi said. “They deserve capital punishment.”

The federal government has failed to arrest the accused despite their arrest warrants being issued by the court. “The federal government is not serious about its commitment to bringing Musharraf, Aziz and the other accused back to Pakistan to face trial,” the counsel maintained.

The provincial government isn’t fulfilling its legal and constitutional obligation in arresting the co-accused either, Hadi said. MPA Shoaib Nousherwani, Hadi said, could have been arrested from the Balochistan Assembly premises where he had arrived to take part in the Senate by-elections recently.

When the investigating team presented Aziz’s letter before the BHC, the Balochistan chief justice directed the investigators to include in the investigation all officials, both civil and military, with any information about the murder.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 7th, 2012.
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