ISLAMABAD    -  Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Interior and former Interior Minister Senator A. Rehman Malik on Saturday said that a false impression was engineered by some people with their ulterior motives that PPP leadership during its tenure had been unable to arrest the killers of former Prime Minister and slain party leader Benazir Bhutto. 

While paying rich tribute to Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader on her 13th martyrdom anniversary, he said that such impressions were baseless and stood negated as all those who were involved in the murder of Ms Benazir Bhutto were “identified, arrested and tried except those who were killed mysteriously.” 

“The nation and the workers of PPP always miss and feel the absence of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto in the party ranks,” the PPP Senator said in a statement. 

Benazir was killed in a gun and bomb attack on December 27, 2007 in Rawalpindi’s Liaquat Bagh while she was leaving the venue after addressing a public rally. 

Senator Malik said that infact the case was got transferred from Punjab Police to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) under the orders of the then Federal Government. 

Then a high-powered Joint Investigation Team (JIT) was constituted for further investigation of the case led by Tariq Khosa, former DG FIA. He expressed that it remained a mystery in the minds of investigators as to how the only drone hit some place in former Khyber Agency to kill Obaid ur Rehman alias Chattan who was the main handler of Benazir’s murder plan. 

The PPP lawmaker said that despite all difficulties while hidden forces were active to stop investigation, the courageous police and FIA officers managed to arrest many and were able to collect the pieces of evidence together and brought the accused to justice. 

He said that the accused were found guilty and competent court convicted them and matter was still pending in the court.  

“The investigation process was very transparent and both the Parliamentt and the Sindh Assembly was kept informed,” he added. 

Former Interior Minister said that it has been recently come into light that the second suicide bomber Ikramullah who fled from the scene and then moved to Afghanistan after spending long time with Baitullah Mehsud, then leader of Tahreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). 

“The Ameer of Taliban has confirmed his presence in Qandahar and it is confirmed that two life attempts have been made on him last year but he escaped,” he said, adding, that it was also a mystery that which odd forces want to kill him when he decided to appear on BBC and unearth some facts.  

“In this regard, I as Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Interior had written letter to then Minister of Interior back in January, 2018 that a request be made to Afghan President to deport Ikramullah, a surviving suicide bomber, and Abu Mansoor Asim Mufti Noor Wali, the author of ‘Inqilab Meshud South Waziristan: From British Raj to American Imperialism’ but sadly he got no response despite a follow-up letter as reminder.” 

Senator Rehman Malik said that latter when five terrorists of TTP namely Abdul Rashid, Aitzaz Shah, Rafaqat Hussain, Husnain Gul and Sher Zaman who were declared guilty of murdering Ms Bhutto by JIT were released, he as Chairman Committee in another letter had demanded Ministry of Interior to immediacy place their names on Exit Control List (ECL) to avoid their escape from the country. 

He said that one Ibad-ur-Rehman, a former student of Madrassa Haqqania had brought suicide bomber to the madrassa from then TTP chief Baitullah Mehsud and stayed in Room No. 96 overnight. 

He added that JIT had collected the original admission record with photographs, addresses and parentage from the seminary of those students who conspired and then executed the conspiracy. The JIT revealed that accused Nasrullah who had brought suicide bombers in Rawalpindi on 26th December, 2007 and Ibad-ur-Rehman, the planner and ex-student of the Madrassa were later on found to have been killed in separate operations by the law enforcement agencies (LEAs), he added. 

He said that that the PPP leadership was of the firm view that the assassination of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto had international dimensions with a wider conspiracy plan. Therefore, it had requested the UN Secretary General to constitute an Inquiry Commission to investigate the case in order to unearth the conspiracy. He said that the commission submitted its report in May 2010 wherein it primarily held the then Federal Government responsible for not providing former Prime Minister adequate and proper security.  

“It also discredited the findings of the committee appointed by the then Punjab Government with regard to washing of the crime scene and on the basis of the findings of the Inquiry Commission, the Federal Government decided to transfer the case to FIA for further investigation and constituted a high-powered JIT as mentioned above”, he said. 

Senator A. Rehman Malik said that the case was now pending before the High Court for decision. 

“I hope that the Bhutto family and the workers of the PPP one day will get justice for their leader Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and justice on the judicial murder of Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto,” he stated.