A Pakistani anti-terrorism court (ATC) announced the verdict in Benazir Bhutto murder case today, acquitting five Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) suspects and announcing 17-year imprisonment for two police officials.
The ATC also declared former military dictator Pervez Musharraf an absconder in the case. The ATC had named Musharraf in the case in February 2011. The judgment came nine years after Bhutto, the two-time Oxford-returned Prime Minister was killed in a gun and suicide attack during election campaign in December 2010.
Bhutto's younger daugther Aseefa tweeted after the verdict, "10 years later and we still await justice. Abettors punished but those truly guilty of my mothers murder roam free." In another tweet, she said "there would be no justice until Pervez Musharraf answers for his crimes".
Saud Aziz, who was police chief of Rawalpindi when Bhutto was assassinated in 2007, and Khurram Shahzad, a former Superintendent of Police (SP) were each awarded 17 years in prison. The two, who were out on bail, have already been arrested, English newspaper Dawn reported.
The two former policemen have each been awarded 10 years in prison and seven years each. They have also been fined Rs500,000 each; in case they do not pay the fine, they will have to spend another six months in jail, said the court. The five TTP suspects - Rafaqat Hussain, Husnain Gul, Sher Zaman, Aitzaz Shah and Abdul Rashid - have beean cleared of all charges in the murder trial. Court has directed authorities to seize Musharraf's properties and issue perpetual arrest warrants for the former dictator.
A joint investigation team implicated Musharraf in the case saying that his government did not provide adequate security to the former Prime Minister despite her repeated requests.
Apart from Musharraf, five other men - Baitullah Mehsud, Ahmad Gul, Iqramullah, Abdullah, and Faizullah - have been declared absconders. The TTP chief Mehsud, who was accused by Musharraf regime of masterminding Bhutto's assassination, died several years ago in a US drone strike in tribal Pakistan.
The special prosecutor in the case Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ahmad was killed by unknown assailants in Islamabad in 2013. Doctors said he had been killed with 10 bullets targeting his chest and shoulder. Saud Aziz and Khurram Shahzad, who had been released on bail in 2011, were accused of negligence in security arrangements which subsequently led to the assassination of the ex-Prime Minister.
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