Rawalpindi - The Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi Bench has granted bail to the two top cops convicted by an anti-terrorism court in the murder case of former PPP premier Benazir Bhutto (BB) here on Thursday.
A divisional bench of LHC comprising Justice Tariq Mehmood Abbasi and Justice Habib Amir Ullah heard the bail petitions of AIG/former City Police Officer (CPO) Syed Saud Aziz and SSP Khurram Shehzad Haider (who was posted as SP Rawal Division at the time) who filed through their counsels Azam Ali Tarar Advocate and Raja Ghaneem Abir Khan. After the defence counsels concluded their arguments, the division bench of LHC accepted bails of the two cops. The court also ordered the cops to furnish surety bonds of Rs 0.2 million each.
After the court verdict, Sardar Latif Khan Khosa, the former Governor and PPP counsel, said the prosecution had presented substantial evidence against the two cops, such as hosing down the crime scene, not allowing the post-mortem of BB after her death by the then CPO Syed Saud Aziz, conducting recce of Liaquat Bagh by terrorists. Even the facilitators had admitted that they brought suicide attackers to kill BB.
“We had challenged the conviction of the two cops and had sought death sentence for them in our appeals,” Khosa said. He compared the Panama Case with the BB murder case saying there was insufficient evidence against Nawaz Sharif yet the courts disqualified him. However, in BB assassination case the courts have solid evidence against guilty persons yet they are not delivering justice to PPP by giving capital punishment to the accused cops.
On August 31, 2017, the Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) Number 1 Special Judge Muhammad Asghar Khan had convicted the two senior police officers and sent them behind bars for 17 years along with a fine of Rs 1 million each for mishandling the crime scene where two time premier BB was murdered by terrorists on December 27, 2007 in a gun and bomb attack.
However, the court acquitted the five suspects, Sher Zaman, Husnain Gull, Aitzaz Shah, Rasheed Ahmed and Rafaqat Hussain allegedly linked with the banned outfit TTP for the lack of evidence and faulty investigation conducted by the prosecution.
The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had filed three separate petitions with Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi Bench while challenging the acquittal of the five suspected TTP men by the anti-terrorism court in PPP former premier Benazir Bhutto murder case.
The other two appeals are against the verdict of anti-terrorism court of separating the trial of former military dictator and president General (Retd) Pervaiz Musharraf, the main accused, from the other accused and awarding him punishment in BB murder case and changing 17 years imprisonment of two cops Syed Saud Aziz and SSP Khurram Shehzad into death sentence.
The petitions have been filed by PPP stalwart Sardar Latif Khan Khosa advocate with the registrar of LHC Rawalpindi Bench.
FIA had also challenged in LHC Rawalpindi Bench the verdict of acquittal of five suspects in BB murder case.
The Punjab Home Department had ordered the jail authorities to detain the five suspects, acquitted by ATC, in Adiala Jail in order to maintain law and order situation in the country. The three suspects have challenged their detention.
ISRAR AHMED
