Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Benazir Bhutto assassination case:Interpol to be issued red warrant for Musharraf's arrest

The Express Tribune


The government of Pakistan is all set to issue a red warrant to Interpol’s headquarters for the arrest of former president Pervez Musharraf on the orders of the anti-terrorism court-I in Rawalpindi in the Benazir Bhutto assassination case.

A senior official of the Interior Ministry, on condition of anonymity, told The Express Tribune that the all documentation will be dispatched to Interpol authorities in Geneva by evening, today (Wednesday).

Federal Investigation Agency’s prosecutor in the Benazir Bhutto murder probe, Chaudhry Zulfiqar told The Express Tribune that the documentation was completed and forwarded to the Interior Ministry. He added that the Interior Ministry is “likely to forward it by the evening, today.”

Musharraf will be placed on Interpol’s most wanted list after an arrest notice is issued by the agency.

The warrant states that Musharraf should be brought back to Pakistan in order to carry out proceedings against him in the murder probe.

The documentation submitted by the Federal Investigation Agency to the Interior Ministry entails the summary/investigation documents, copies of the statements given by the then director-general of Counter Intelligence wing of ISI Javed Iqbal Cheema and former director-general of Intelligence Bureau of Pakistan Ejaz Shah have also been sent to Interpol, US-based journalist Marc Siegel’s e-mail to Bhutto, copy of the court orders and other orders of ATC.

The investigation officer of the murder probe, Deputy Director Federal Investigation Agency Khalid Rasool had forwarded the arrest documents to the Interior Ministry, which moved it to the concerned authority of Interpol in Pakistan.

The warrant will be sent via e-mail and through post.

Earlier this month, Interior Minister Rehman Malik revealed the investigation report of the murder of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in the Sindh Assembly and vowed to bring then president Pervaiz Musharraf back to the country.

He also assured the Senate that Musharraf would be arrested upon his return to Pakistan.
“I assure this house that if he lands in Pakistan, he will be arrested because he is a proclaimed offender in the Benazir Bhutto murder case,” the minister had said.

The interior minister’s assurance comes a day after Senator Raza Rabbani submitted a 10-point charge sheet in Senate, calling for the former dictator’s arrest.

Malik said the Pakistan Peoples Party-led government never said that it would not take action against Musharraf, and added that while it is the responsibility of the federal government to give an order for registering a case against Musharraf, it is important for someone to register a complaint in this regard.

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