ID :
185464
Tue, 05/31/2011 - 08:30
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https://www.oananews.org//node/185464
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Musharraf declared absconder in Benazir murder case
Islamabad, May 31, IRNA -- An anti-Terrorism Court in Pakistan on Monday declared former President Pervez Musharraf, an absconder in connection with the 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, court officials said.
Pakistani prosecutors had asked a trial court to declare Musharraf an 'absconder' in the murder case of former premier Benazir Bhutto, saying he had refused to cooperate in the probe and also named him as an 'accused'.
A chargesheet filed by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in the court in Rawalpindi said Musharraf, who was president at the time of the assassination, had refused a request to cooperate in the investigation into Bhutto's death.
The court had issued arrest warrants for Musharraf, currently living in self-exile in London, after he failed to appear in the court. He was earlier named as an 'absconding accused” and the court declared him absconder after FIA informed the court that the arrest warrant could not be served on the former president by the government.
The Judge Rana Nisar Ahmad while declaring him absconder asked the investigators to publish an advertisement in three major Pakistani newspapers, asking Pervez Musharraf to appear in the court.
Legal experts say that the FIA can also approach the court for confiscation of Musharraf’s property after he failed to appear in the court.
The anti-terrorism court is conducting the trial of five terror suspects, including alleged members of the Tehrik-e- Taliban Pakistan, who have been charged with planning and facilitating the assassination.
Bhutto was killed by a suicide bomber shortly after she addressed an election rally in Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007.
The FIA's charge against Musharraf is the latest in a long list of legal and criminal cases against the former military ruler, who resigned in August 2008, and it could cause problems for his planned return to Pakistani politics.
Musharraf, who has been living in self-exile in Britain since April 2009, has said that he intends to return to Pakistan before the next general election in 2013. He has also formed a new party, the All Pakistan Muslim League, with an eye to the next polls.
A UN Commission which probed Bhutto's assassination had held Musharraf responsible for failing to provide adequate security to the former premier after her return to Pakistan from self-exile in October 2007./end
Pakistani prosecutors had asked a trial court to declare Musharraf an 'absconder' in the murder case of former premier Benazir Bhutto, saying he had refused to cooperate in the probe and also named him as an 'accused'.
A chargesheet filed by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in the court in Rawalpindi said Musharraf, who was president at the time of the assassination, had refused a request to cooperate in the investigation into Bhutto's death.
The court had issued arrest warrants for Musharraf, currently living in self-exile in London, after he failed to appear in the court. He was earlier named as an 'absconding accused” and the court declared him absconder after FIA informed the court that the arrest warrant could not be served on the former president by the government.
The Judge Rana Nisar Ahmad while declaring him absconder asked the investigators to publish an advertisement in three major Pakistani newspapers, asking Pervez Musharraf to appear in the court.
Legal experts say that the FIA can also approach the court for confiscation of Musharraf’s property after he failed to appear in the court.
The anti-terrorism court is conducting the trial of five terror suspects, including alleged members of the Tehrik-e- Taliban Pakistan, who have been charged with planning and facilitating the assassination.
Bhutto was killed by a suicide bomber shortly after she addressed an election rally in Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007.
The FIA's charge against Musharraf is the latest in a long list of legal and criminal cases against the former military ruler, who resigned in August 2008, and it could cause problems for his planned return to Pakistani politics.
Musharraf, who has been living in self-exile in Britain since April 2009, has said that he intends to return to Pakistan before the next general election in 2013. He has also formed a new party, the All Pakistan Muslim League, with an eye to the next polls.
A UN Commission which probed Bhutto's assassination had held Musharraf responsible for failing to provide adequate security to the former premier after her return to Pakistan from self-exile in October 2007./end
