ISLAMABAD - Senior Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Senator Rehman Malik on Friday said the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) had acquitted known “Al-Qaeda men” in Benazir Bhutto murder case verdict this week.
The former interior minister, who was the chief security officer of the late PPP chief, said the release of the five suspects was hard to digest as there was solid evidence against them. “They have punished the co-accused but released the real culprits,” he said, while speaking to The Nation. On August 31, the ATC in Rawalpindi released five suspects over lack of evidence. The five suspects – allegedly affiliated with Taliban – included Rafaqat, Hasnain, Rasheed Ahmed, Sher Zaman and Aitzaz Shah.
The court declared former military ruler Pervez Musharraf an absconder in the Benazir Bhutto case.
The court also directed to forfeit Musharraf’s property. The ATC sentenced former Rawalpindi City Police Offer Saud Aziz and former Rawal Town Superintendent Police Khurram Shahzad to 17 years in prison, and fined them Rs500,000 each. Both police officers have been arrested.
Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in a gun-and-bomb attack outside Rawalpindi’s Liaquat Bagh on December 27, 2007, when Musharraf was in power.
The then military ruler Pervez Musharraf had blamed Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud for the killing. But a UN investigation report said lack of adequate security was the main reason behind the successful attack by the terrorists.
This automatically questioned Musharraf’s role as he was asked for security a number of times by the late Bhutto.
The PPP won 2008 elections after Bhutto’s assassination but in its five-year term, the party failed to expedite the case proceedings, which fell to delays. Senator Malik said the country’s judicial system was responsible for delay in punishment to the killers of Benazir Bhutto.
“We tried every bit to punish the culprits but [then] Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry was not sincere so it went in the cold storage,” he claimed.
He said the prosecutor Zulfikar Chaudhry - who according to him was doing a splendid job - was killed as he was closing in to get the killers punished.
Malik said the PPP would continue efforts to get justice for the late leader.
Meanwhile, on Friday, PPP co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari said Eidul Azha symbolised the willingness to sacrifice for a cause. “Let us therefore on this day pledge to live and strive for a cause larger than one’s own self,” he said in a message on Eidul Azha, to be celebrated on September 2 (today).
Zardari also felicitated the Muslims throughout the world and particularly those in Pakistan on this occasion.
“On this occasion I also call upon my countrymen to remember those who have laid down their lives so that we can live to celebrate this Eid. We owe a deep debt of gratitude to them,” he said.
Zardari added: “And let us also not forget the less fortunate ones, shackled in abysmal poverty, deprivations and misfortunes, [and] are deprived of true joy”.
Separately, the PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also felicitated Muslims throughout the world particularly those in Pakistan on Eidul Azha.
“May the bliss and blessings of Eidul Azha remain with you,” he said in a message on the occasion.
“Eidul Azha is a reiteration to uphold the value of sacrifice for the good of all. It is a reaffirmation of unity of action in an imperishable bond of brotherhood. It is an occasion to reach out to the deprived, dispossessed and less fortunate ones among us in a spirit of compassion and solidarity,” Bilawal added.
He said: “At a time when our society is faced with challenges of violent extremism, internal displacements and division we need to draw on our common humanity to build a better world for all.”
The PPP chief said facing challenges of militancy and extremism “our people richly deserve Eidul Azha to usher in peace and harmony.”
Shafqat Ali
