RAWALPINDI:
The murder of former prime minister and chairperson of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Benazir Bhutto (BB), remains an unsolved mystery for investigators, who have not been able to locate the masterminds, perpetrators and murderers of the notorious case. , despite 17 years of research. the incident.
High-profile global bodies such as the United Nations, Scotland Yard of the United Kingdom, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the Punjab Police carried out four comprehensive investigations but failed to trace the case.
Benazir Bhutto lost her life in a shootout and suicide attack while returning from an election rally in Rawalpindi’s Liaquat on December 27, 2007. All 27 PPP activists were also killed and 98 others were injured.
The case was heard in the Special Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Rawalpindi for about seven years. Now, he has been crawling like an ant in the Rawalpindi court of the Lahore High Court (LHC) for the last seven years.
In 2024, the case was once heard at the LHC, but the hearing was adjourned indefinitely due to the absence of lawyers. This remains the longest running murder appeal at the LHC. In total seven challans were filed, 12 judges were changed, 291 appearances were held and 57 witnesses were presented in the case.
During the hearing of the case, PPP presented American journalist Mark Segal as a witness through a video statement from the Pakistani High Commission in the United Kingdom.
Rawalpindi police arrested five accused – Aitzaz Shah, Sher Zaman, Hasnain, Rafaqat and Abdul Rasheed in the case. Following the FIA investigation, then President General Pervez Musharraf, then Rawalpindi city police officer Saud Aziz and SP Khurram Shehzad were also nominated in the case, taking the total number of accused to eight.
The then ATC Judge Muhammad Asghar Khan acquitted four five detained suspects, sentenced two police officers to 17 years in prison and awarded a fine of Rs 1 million each.
Musharraf, who left for Dubai during the investigation, later died. The court declared him a fugitive and confiscated all his real and personal property and bank accounts. Aitzaz Shah, Sher Zaman and Hasnain were released, Abdul Rasheed is still detained in Adiala jail and Rafaqat, who was kidnapped after his release, has been missing for the last seven years.
The PPP did not pursue the most important case or allow the victims’ families to pursue it.
The judges continued to issue notices and summons to BB’s spouse, Asif Ali Zardari, and his children, Bilawal Bhutto, Asifa Bhutto and Bakhtawar Bhutto, to pursue the case, but no one appeared in court.
The FIA pursued the case on its own. Senior FIA Prosecutor Chaudhary Zulfikar Ali was also brutally murdered during the hearing. The two police officers convicted in the case are free on bail. The LHC suspended both their sentences.
Following the court’s decision, President Zardari appealed for Musharraf to be tried in absentia and for the five defendants to be punished. The police officers appealed against the convictions. The FIA also filed appeals to set aside the acquittals of the accused and Musharraf’s trial. The PPP also did not file any appeal against the police officers.
Sources at the LHC Rawalpindi Bench say that appeals in this important case are expected to be scheduled for hearing in February next year.
PPP lawyer Malik Zaheer Arshad says if this case is not decided immediately after the winter break, they will request an early hearing to hold the accused accountable.
However, lawyers Naseer Tanoli and Malik Jawad Khalid, who represent the accused, are of the view that there is no recourse by the PPP against the accused police officers due to lack of evidence, so there is a strong possibility that their sentences will be quashed. Musharraf’s name will also be removed from appeals at any future date, they added.
According to the lawyers, with the appointment of new additional judges at the LHC, this case will also be resolved in the first six months of 2025.
