RAWALPINDI:
Eighteen years after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto – the “Daughter of the East” and Pakistan’s first female prime minister – the legal maze surrounding her murder remains unsolved, and its many threads remain tangled despite years of investigations, trials and appeals.
The long aftermath of Benazir’s trial remains open as Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) workers and leaders observe the former prime minister’s death anniversary at the site where she was killed in a gun and bomb attack on December 27, 2007.
Although the PPP remained in power for eight years after his assassination, it failed to conclusively identify and bring to justice the masterminds behind the assassination.
The case dragged on for a decade before a Special Anti-Terrorism Court and has now spent another eight years languishing in the Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC).
From January 1, 2024 to December 27, 2025, the case was not set for hearing even once, and there is little prospect of it being taken up again before January 31.
Benazir was murdered on December 27, 2007, in bitterly cold and cloudy weather, moments after addressing a public rally at Rawalpindi’s historic Liaquat Bagh. As he was leaving the venue near Liaquat Bagh Chowk, he was first shot at and then targeted in a suicide attack.
It was the second assassination of a prime minister in Liaquat Bagh, named after the nation’s first prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan, murdered in a similar manner in 1951. Besides Benazir, 27 party workers were martyred and 98 others were injured.
Despite the assassination of its president and a former prime minister, neither the Bhutto family nor the PPP became complainants in the case, forcing the police to take on that role.
The case was the subject of four separate investigations, including those by the United Nations, Scotland Yard of the United Kingdom, Punjab Police and finally the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). In total, seven challans were filed, 12 judges were changed during the proceedings, 291 hearings were held and statements of 57 witnesses were recorded.
During the trial, lead prosecutor Zulfiqar Chaudhry, who was prosecuting the case, was killed on the day of the hearing. The PPP also presented American journalist Mark Siegel as a witness via video link from the Pakistani High Commission in the United Kingdom. However, he did not respond adequately to rigorous questioning by defense attorneys.
Over eight years, the high court held only seven hearings, all limited to procedural adjournments. The hearing judge summoned PPP leaders, including President Asif Ali Zardari, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Sanam Bhutto, Bakhtawar Bhutto and Asifa Bhutto, at least a dozen times. However, the party did not follow the case from beginning to end.
With the FIA investigation and trial over, ATC Judge Muhammad Asghar Khan delivered the verdict on August 31, 2017, after a decade-long trial. Five accused, including Aitzaz Shah, Sher Zaman, Hasnain, Rifat and Abdul Rashid, arrested by the police, were acquitted and branded as scapegoats.
On the contrary, former Rawalpindi city police officer Saud Aziz and SP Khurram Shehzad were found guilty and sentenced to 17 years in prison each, along with fines of Rs 1 million.
Both were arrested and jailed but were later granted bail by the High Court and remain free on bail.
The eighth defendant, former president and military ruler Pervez Musharraf, was declared a proclaimed offender after repeatedly failing to appear. The court issued permanent arrest warrants, ordered the confiscation of his real and personal property, the freezing of bank accounts and his extradition through Interpol.
However, none of the orders were implemented and Musharraf later died in Dubai after a prolonged illness.
Following the verdict, three acquitted accused namely Aitzaz Shah, Sher Zaman and Hasnain were released.
However, Abdul Rashid remains imprisoned in Adiala Jail even after 18 years and is currently detained, while the acquitted fifth accused, Rifat, disappeared outside the gates of Adiala Jail after his release and remains unaccounted for to this day.
Following the verdict, Asif Ali Zardari filed an appeal with the high court, challenging the acquittal of the five accused and requesting Musharraf’s return for trial, but he did not appeal the convictions or sentences of the two police officers.
However, the FIA appealed against both the acquittals and the sentences of the police officers. In all, 12 appeals related to the Benazir Bhutto murder case are pending before the top court.
Speaking to this correspondent, advocate Asad Abbasi, representing the PPP’s Benazir Bhutto assassination case panel, said the appeals had been awaiting hearing for too long and an application for early hearing would be filed immediately after the court holidays.
He promised that the party would not remain silent until Benazir Bhutto’s killers were fully exposed. “Justice has been delayed but not extinguished. Benazir Bhutto’s innocent blood will bear fruit,” he said.
