PPP moves LHC against judgment in Benazir Bhutto murder case

RAWALPINDI: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Monday challenged the verdict of an anti-terrorism court in former prime minister Benazir Bhutto murder case, ARY News reported.

Senior Advocate Sardar Latif Khosa filed three appeals in the Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi bench against the verdict of the trial court.

One of the appeals was against the court’s decision to declare former military ruler Pervaiz Musharraf as absconder.

Speaking to media, Khosa said it was decided during a party meeting with PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari in the chair to challenge the verdict in the high court.

Musharraf was a big threat to the life of the former prime minister as he had warned her against coming back to Pakistan in 2007, he said and added the military ruler knew that he couldn’t remain on the throne in the presence of Bhutto.

On August 31, an anti-terrorism court (ATC), announced its verdict in the December 27, 2007 assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, acquitting the five accused while declaring Pervez Musharraf as absconder.

The court had also ordered confiscation of the movable and immovable property of Musharraf, who was implicated  in the case in February 2011.

The court found Saud Aziz, who was the city police chief at the time of the assassination of Bhutto, and Khurram Shahzad, former Superintendent of Police (SP) Rawal Town in Rawalpindi, guilty of mishandling the crime scene and awarded them imprisonment of 17 years each.

It also imposed a penalty of Rs500,000 each on both the convicts and ruled that  in case of non-payment of the fine they will have to undergo additional imprisonment of six months.

After a decade-long trial, the court had reserved verdict in the case of the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto after the counsels of the defendants concluded their arguments.

The ATC was hearing the case for last nine years since Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on December 27, 2007, during her return from a public gathering at Liaquat Bagh in Rawalpindi.