Pakistani court issues Mushrraf's warrant in Benazir's murder
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Islamabad, Feb 19, IRNA -- An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan Saturday issued unbailable warrants for former military president Pervez Musharraf in the 2007 assassination case of former premier Benazir Bhutto, for not appearing in the court, prosecutors said.
The court had issued arrest warrants for Musharraf earlier this month and had ordered him to appear on February 19 as the investigators named him as an 'accused'.
Prosecutor of the Federal Investigation Agency, Chaudhry Zulfikar, told the court that the arrest warrant could not be served on Musharraf as he was not at his Islamabad’s residence when a representative of the FIA visited his residence.
The anti-terrorism court’s Judge Rana Nisar issued arrest warrant and ordered that the warrant should be sent again on Musharraf’s addresses in Islamabad and also London, where he lives.
The court adjourned the hearing till March 5, asking the investigators to ensure Musharraf’s presence in the court on the next hearing.
Musharraf, who has been living in self-exile in Britain since April 2009, has said that he intends to return to Pakistan before the next general election in 2013. He has also launched a new party, the All Pakistan Muslim League, and vows to return to Pakistan for the next polls.
Musharraf's party says that accusations against the former President are politically motivated and that he could appear in the court if he receives formal orders from the courts.
Legal experts say that if Musharraf could not appear on the next hearing date, the government can approach the Interpol for his arrest. They said Musharraf could be declared ‘absconder’ if he failed to appear in the court.
Several chargesheets submitted by the FIA in the anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi said Musharraf, who was President at the time of the assassination, had refused a request to cooperate in the investigation into Bhutto's death.
The anti-terrorism court is conducting the trial of five terror suspects, including alleged members of the outlawed ‘Tehrik-e- Taliban Pakistan’ or TTP, who have been charged with planning and facilitating the assassination.
Bhutto was killed by a suicide bomber shortly after she addressed an election rally in Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007.
One chargesheet also said that former Rawalpindi Police chief Saud Aziz and former Superintendent of Police Khurram Shahzad – recently arrested by the FIA on charges of negligence in providing security to Bhutto – were acting on the orders of Musharraf.
The chargesheet also included a report on the forensic analysis of one of Benazir Bhutto’s BlackBerry mobile phones. Two BlackBerry phones used by Bhutto at the time of her assassination were recently found by staff at her home in Karachi and handed over to the FIA.
The FIA's charge against Musharraf is the latest in a long list of legal and criminal cases against the former military ruler, who resigned in August 2008, and it could cause problems for his planned return to Pakistani politics.
A UN Commission which probed Bhutto's assassination had held Musharraf responsible for failing to provide adequate security to the former premier after her return to Pakistan from self-exile in October 2007.
Islamic Republic News Agency/IRNA NewsCode: 30255583
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