Benazir murder case verdict deepens mystery

The much-awaited judgement of Pakistan’s Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in the murder case of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto has left people at large befuddled in Pakistan. Delivered after a decade of the mysterious killing, the verdict announced by ATC Judge Asghar Khan at Adiala Jail cleared five accused in the case, sentenced two former police officials and declared former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf as an absconder. The five accused who were indicted by the ATC in November 2008, nearly 11 months after the ghastly assassination of Benazir and were cleared now had been charged for killing, hatching criminal conspiracy to kill, abetting the perpetrators, using illegal explosive material and spreading terrorism on Dec 27, 2007 when 22 people, including the former premier, were killed in a gun-and-bomb attack outside Rawalpindi’s Liaquat Bagh, when she was leaving after holding an election rally. Saud Aziz, who was the police chief in Rawalpindi at the time of Ms Bhutto’s assassination, and former Rawal Town SP Khurram Shahzad, were sentenced to 17 years each.

Significantly, the verdict, which declared Musharraf an absconder in the case, ordered the seizure of his property. Musharraf has been living in Dubai since then and has no plans of returning to Pakistan. His main prop has been the Pakistan army. His appearance before the court was excused as he had threats against his life from al Qaeda. It is indeed doubtful if the army, which is all-powerful in the country, would want Musharraf to be brought back to spill the beans about the assassination which could show the army in poor light. As the Special Prosecutor pointed out in court, the crime scene was washed only hours after the incident. Also, strangely, no post mortem was done on Benazir’s body. More than 300 hearings have been held of the case, while over the course of time six judges have been changed and seven challans submitted. Evidently, there have been pulls and counter-pulls in the course of the trial and nothing concrete has emerged.