Islamabad: A Pakistani anti-terrorism court hearing the Benazir Bhutto assassination case today indicted seven people, including two former top police officers responsible for providing security to the ex-Premier.
Former Rawalpindi police chief Saud Aziz and ex-Superintendent of Police Khurram Shahzad were indicted by the court along with five alleged members of militant groups who were identified as Hasnain Gul, Rafaqat Hussain, Sher Zaman, Aitzaz Shah and Abdul Rasheed.
The two former police officers have been accused of negligence in providing security to Bhutto.
Prosecution lawyers said the indictments of the suspects were of varying nature. Details were not immediately known. Following the indictment, the judge of the Rawalpindi-based anti-terrorism court adjourned the case till November 19. Bhutto was killed by a suicide attacker shortly after addressing an election rally in Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007. She was attacked weeks after she returned to Pakistan after spending several years in self-exile. PTI
The accused were presented before the anti-terrorism court’s judge during proceedings conducted in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail for security reasons.
The accused denied the charges against them. Following this, the judge instructed the prosecution to present its witnesses at the next hearing on November 19. The two police officers are currently on bail. Though the anti-terrorism court had issued an arrest warrant for former President Pervez Musharraf after he failed to cooperate with investigators, he was not among those indicted today. The prosecution has said it wants to question Musharraf regarding alleged lapses in the security cover provided to Bhutto. (PTI)
