Islamabad: Students of a prominent seminary run by a cleric known as the ‘father of the Taliban’ were involved in the 2007 assassination of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, officials have told a court.
The hearing of the case in Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC), Rawalpindi, by Justice Pervez Ismail was held yesterday inside Adiala Jail of the city due to security reasons. Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Peshawar Inspector Naseer Ahmed and Sub-Inspector Adnan told the court about the involvement of Darul Uloom Haqqania’s students in the killing of Benazir, Dawn News reported.
Both the state witnesses also presented related evidence to support their statements.
Darul Uloom Haqqania’s director education Wisal Ahmed, in his statement, admitted that the suspected suicide bomber Abdullah alias Saddam Nadir alias Qari Ismail and arrested suspects Rasheed alias Turabi and Faiz Muhammad had received education from the seminary but rejected the claim that the seminary was linked to them.
He said the suspects had left the seminary before completing their education.
The seminary located at Akora Khattak in Nowshera district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa is owned by Sami-ul-Haq and it has produced several high profile Taliban leaders and fighters, including Jalaluddin Haqqani the founder of feared Haqqani network.
The alumni of the seminary use “Haqqani” with their name.
Haq has never had any qualms about mentoring Taliban and has several times praised their “justice” system in Afghanistan.
He is also known as “father of the Taliban”. Haq also served many times as a member of Parliament and is still active and headed the team which held talks with Pakistani Taliban after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced to hold negotiations with them last year. Benazir was killed in gun and bomb attack in 2007 in Rawalpindi.
The special court has so far conducted more than 300 hearings and indicted several people, including former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, in the case. (PTI)
