Pervez Musharraf. PHOTO: FILE
An Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) recorded the statement of one of four witnesses in former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s assassination at the start of the case’s retrial on Tuesday.
Dr Hina Bukhari of Holy Family Hospital Rawalpindi testified in court that she had treated the injured people, shifted by the police and rescuers to the hospital after the December 27, 2007 bomb attack in Liaquat Bagh Rawalpindi.
Defence lawyer Rao Abdur Rahim, representing an accused Abdul Rashid, then cross-examined Dr Bukhari for almost three hours.
In the courtroom, former City Police Officer (CPO) Syed Saud Aziz and former SP Rawal Division Khurram Shehzad, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Special Public Prosecutor Chaudhry Muhammad Azhar and defence lawyers, Muhammad Ilyas Siddiqui, Malik Muhammad Raffique and Naseer Tanvali were also present.
However, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Secretary General Sardar Latif Ahmed Khan Khosa, who was contesting the case on behalf of Tauqir Kaira, a victim of the December 27 gun-and-bomb attack, did not appear before the court.
Dr Bukhari had appeared before Special Judge Chaudhry Habibur Rehman’s court, which recorded her statement.
The court adjourned the hearing till October 29 with orders that the remaining three witnesses appear at the next date for recording of their statements.
Lal Masjid case
The son of the Lal Masjid’s former deputy cleric Abdur Rasheed Ghazi has alleged that the former military strongman Pervez Musharraf authorised use of chemical weapons during the military operation to clear the mosque in July 2007.
He has said this in a statement recorded with the Aabpara police in Rasheed Ghazi’s murder case. He says the chemical bombs – phosphorous bombs – wiped out hundreds of Jamia Hafsa and Lal Masjid inmates.
“This was done to cover the evidence of mass murder committed during the operation,” alleged Haroonur Rashid Ghazi, the complainant.
These allegations are part of ‘the evidences’ provided to the police in a bid to stop Musharraf from getting bail in the case.
The complainant fears that the former president would “flee the country” on getting bail in the last criminal case standing against him.
A senior police officer, who claims to have read the complainant’s statement, said the allegations levelled would be difficult to substantiate in court. “There was officially no record or evidence of use of phosphorous bombs in the military operation,” the officer said.
Ghazi, in his statement, has further alleged that the then Islamabad administration on Musharraf’s orders covertly buried hundreds of bodies at unknown places. He alleged that his grandmother, Sahib Khatoon, was among of those lost victims, whose bodies had not been recovered.
“The bodies of victims of phosphorous bombs were thrown into nullahs,” added the complainant.
“Musharraf should be booked under Anti-Terrorism Act in a separate case for using chemical weapons,” Ghazi has pleaded in his statement. Hearing on Musharraf’s bail appeal is scheduled for Wednesday in Islamabad High Court.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 23rd, 2013.
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