Benazir Bhutto case: Arrest warrants out for six witnesses

ATC orders police to bring witnesses in handcuffs if they refuse to come.

RAWALPINDI: The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Rawalpindi on Thursday issued arrest warrants for six witnesses in former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s murder case for not appearing in court despite several orders.

Judge Pervez Ismail Joya of ATC-1 expressed anger at the absence of the witnesses and ordered law enforcement personnel to bring them in handcuffs if they refuse to appear at the next hearing.

The witnesses include former interior secretary Kamal Shah, assistant commissioner Islamabad Kamran, Benazir’s driver Javed Rahman, Station House Officer Dera Cantonment DI Khan Niaz Muhammad Khan, inspector Adnan and FIA inspector Naseer Ali Khan.



The court ordered police to arrest them if they do not appear on March 30.

So far, around 48 witnesses have recorded their statements in the case. An official of the court, while talking to The Express Tribune, said most of the witnesses are government servants and serving in far-flung areas of the other provinces due to which they could not appear before the court.

In the ephedrine case, Judge Muhammad Akhtar Bahadur was annoyed at the absence of Anti-Narcotics Force’s witnesses before the court. The witnesses were supposed to appear before the court in the ephedrine quota case against Hanif Abbasi.

The judge expressed annoyance over a court official for not sending summons. The court issued notices to five witnesses to appear before the court on April 5.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 27^th, 2015.