Rawalpindi, February 20: An anti-terrorism court reissued on Saturday warrants for Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf’s arrest in the Benazir Bhutto assassination case and ordered the FIA to produce him before the court on March 5.
ATC-III Judge Rana Nisar Ahmed reissued the warrants after investigators informed the court that they had gone to the Islamabad residence of the former president to serve the warrants in compliance with its Feb 12 order but were told that he was now living in London.
The judge, who is conducting the trial inside Adiyala Jail, directed the Federal Investigation Agency’s deputy director, Khalid Rasool, to serve the warrants on Gen Musharraf’s residence in London, arrest him and produce him before the court on March 5.
The FIA in its report had said that the former president was part of the conspiracy to kill Ms Bhutto because he did not provide her adequate security, threatened her with dire consequences if she did not cooperate with him and tried to influence investigations after her murder by ordering an interior ministry official to claim that the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had assassinated the former prime minister.
The court deferred indictment of seven other accused after lawyers of the two – former Rawalpindi CPO Saud Aziz and SP Khurram Shahzad – said they were not provided with documents prepared by the FIA accusing their clients, both under detention, of destroying evidence and influencing the investigations.
The judge directed the FIA to ensure provision of the documents because the accused would be formally charge-sheeted at the next hearing.
Five other accused, all said to be linked to the TTP — Aitzaz Shah, Sher Zaman, Hasnain Gul, Rafaqat Hussain and Abdul Rasheed – are being tried for allegedly conspiring to kill Ms Bhutto and providing residence and transport to the suicide bomber who blew himself up outside Liaquat Bagh where the PPP leader was waving to supporters from the sunroof of her bullet-proof vehicle after addressing a rally.
——–Agencies