RAWALPINDI - A witness of prosecution was cross-examined while three others recorded their statements in former premier Benazir Bhutto (BB) murder case before the judge of Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Rawalpindi Number 1 during a trial held at Adyala Jail on Saturday.
Usman Makhtoom, manager of a telecom company, was the witness of prosecution, who was cross-examined while the three other witnesses including Ahmed Faisal, manager of a telecom company, Chaudhry Taufeeq, the magistrate who recorded confessional stamens of accused in BB assassination case and constable Haider Ali, who brought the body parts of suicide bomber who blew himself up near BB’s vehicle to forensic lab Lahore.
ATC No 1 Judge Shahid Raffique recorded the statements of three prosecution witnesses and put off the hearing till February 4, 2012 summoning six more witnesses of prosecution to get their statements recorded. The six prosecution witnesses summoned by court on the next date of hearing included the then DSP Ishtiaq Shah, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Assistant Director (AD) Qamar Zaman, Sub Inspector (SI) Zameer Ahmed, Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) Muhammad Nawaz, Constable Mohsin Khan and another witness Javed Iqbal Lodhi.
A prosecution witness Ahmed Faisal apprised the court that he was asked to provide the data of three mobile numbers which he handed over to Tariq Ilyas Kiyani, a member of Joint Investigation Team (JIT) had been formed to probe the high profile murder. Another prosecution witness Chaudhry Taufeeq, the then magistrate who wrote the confessional statements of accused of BB assassination case, told the court that an accused Aitzaz Shah was presented before him who in his statements confessed that he was the part of the conspiracy was hatched to kill BB. The police constable Haidar Ali, the third prosecution witness, in his statement told the judge that he was handed over the three packets containing different body parts of the suicide bomber who set-off himself near BB’s vehicle by the then Moharer PS City Salim Akhter and ASI Nawaz to deliver them to Lahore for forensic examination.
On the other hand, ATC No 1 adjourned the hearing till February 11, 2012 in a petition filed by Begum Sehba Musharraf to release the assets of her spouse.  Ilyas Siddiqui Advocate appeared before the court and told the judge that he would contest the case on behalf of the applicant but at present he did not own the attorney as Begum Sehba Musharraf was abroad.  He sought time from the court to prepare the case and get instructions from the applicant.
The officials of a bank also presented the details of one of General Musharraf’s accounts that have been freezed by FIA before the court.  The bank officials informed that the court that it was a joint account of President Musharraf and his wife under the name of “Musharraf Trust” and it was opened to help flood victims.
FIA Prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar, giving arguments, appealed the court to summon more details of the account from the bank to determine the status of the account. On this, the court ordered the bank officials to present the details of the bank account on the next date of hearing.