ISLAMABAD: Former Punjab governor Sardar Latif Khosa, who is
representing Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairperson Asif Ali
Zardari in the Benazir Bhutto murder case, alleged on Wednesday that
former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had given ‘safe
passage’ to retired Gen Pervez Musharraf.
Mr Musharraf
is one of the suspects in the Benazir murder case, but left the country
in March last year after the interior ministry removed his name from the
exit control list (ECL) after a three-year travel ban.
An
anti terrorism court (ATC) in Rawalpindi had, earlier this year,
acquitted five suspects from the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)
in the same case, but convicted former deputy inspector general Saud
Aziz and senior superintendent of police Khurram Shahzad.
Since
he absconded, the court has issued perpetual warrants of arrest for Mr
Musharraf and adjourned proceedings against the former military dictator
sine die, until his arrest and subsequent appearance before the court.
PPP
co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari, who was not a party to the case in the
trial court, has challenged the ATC’s sentence before the Lahore High
Court’s (LHC) Rawalpindi bench.
PPP counsel criticises court’s acquittal of TTP men in Benazir murder case
A division bench, consisting of Justice Mazahar Ali Akbar
Naqvi and Justice Tariq Abbasi, heard the matter on Wednesday and
adjourned the proceedings after issuing notices to the alleged TTP
suspects.
Talking to reporters after the hearing, Mr
Khosa criticised the ATC verdict, saying that the trial should have been
completed within a month, but the court took 10 years to pronounce its
judgment.
He said there was enough evidence against the five suspects, but the court exonerated them.
He
alleged that Mr Musharraf hatched a conspiracy to murder Benazir
Bhutto, adding that when his trial was nearing completion; then-federal
minister for interior Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan provided the former
dictator “safe passage” from the country.
He claimed
that Chaudhry Nisar had tried to shift responsibility for this act to
the courts, whereas there was no judicial order to this effect and the
courts never asked the interior ministry to let Mr Musharraf proceed
abroad.
When Mr Musharraf left the country, he was
facing a high treason case before a special court in Islamabad and was
also being tried for the murder of Lal Masjid cleric Ghazi Rasheed, as
well as the Benazir Bhutto murder case.
The courts declared him an absconder in all these cases and initiated the process of confiscating his properties.
The
apex court had, on April 8, 2013, ordered the government to place
Musharraf’s name on the ECL and ensure that he did not leave Pakistan
until the court order was varied or modified.
Following
the court order, the interior ministry placed Mr Musharraf on ECL, but
the Sindh High Court stuck down the order in June 2014.
The
federal government challenged the high court order before the apex
court and a five-member bench dismissed the federal government’s appeal
in March last year.
Subsequently, the interior ministry removed Mr Musharraf’s name from the no-fly list.
According
to the prosecution in the Benazir murder case, an email of the late Ms
Bhutto to US lobbyist Mark Seigel connected Mr Musharraf with the
murder.
Mr Siegel claimed that on Sept 25, 2007, Ms
Bhutto received a telephone call that she later described as “a very bad
call” from Mr Musharraf.
The statement said that the
former military ruler had warned Ms Bhutto that “her safety depends on
the state of their (Musharraf and Benazir’s) relationship.”
According
to Mr Siegel, Ms Bhutto sent him an email on October 26, 2007, in which
she expressed her sense of insecurity. She also said that if something
happened to her, she would hold the military ruler responsible, apart
from the individuals mentioned in her letter to Mr Musharraf on Oct 16,
2007.
In the letter, Ms Bhutto had named retired
Brigadier Ejaz Shah, retired Lt-Gen Hameed Gul and former Punjab chief
minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi.