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India-Pakistan

Suspect granted bail in Benazir case held in another case

2018-07-13

[DAWN] The Counter Terrorism Department, Rawalpindi, has placed in durance vile I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece! a prime suspect in the murder case of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... after he was released from Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore. The Kot Lakhpat jail authority has released suspect Rafaqat Hussain after he managed to secure bail in the Benazir Bhutto murder case. Pakistain Peoples Party (PPP) chairperson and two-time former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in a gun and kaboom at an election campaign rally in Rawalpindi’s Liaquat Bagh on Dec 27, 2007. An official seeking anonymity told Dawn that Rafaqat was shifted to Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail from Rawalpindi prison following some administrative arrangements. He said the Kot Lakhpat jail officials got his release orders on June 23, 2018, and following written orders, they released Rafaqat Hussain. His elder brother received him outside the jail, he said adding that as soon as he reached his destination, a CTD team from Rawalpindi raided and arrested him in a terror attack case lodged with a local cop shoppe. "The CTD arrested him in another suicide kaboom carried out on Feb 6, 2007 at Rawalpindi International Airport," the official said. According to this case, he said, the terrorist had detonated a bomb in a parking area of the airport wounding some law-enforcement agencies personnel and killing himself after a brief exchange of fire. Meanwhile, ...back at the wine tasting, Vince was about to start on his third quart... the official said, the suspect’s father also filed a plea to the Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) claiming that Rafaqat Hussain had gone missing from the prison. He claimed that his son was acquitted in the murder case of Benazir Bhutto in August 2017 but was detained in Punjab’s various jails. Lately, Rafaqat was shifted to the Kot Lakhpat Jail from where he went missing under mysterious circumstances, he claimed. Earlier, an anti-terrorism court acquitted five suspects for lack of evidence and declared former military ruler Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... a runaway. ATC Judge Muhammad Asghar Khan found two coppers guilty of ’mishandling the scene of the crime’, making them the only people to have been convicted of the liquidation of Benazir in a gun and suicide attack in Rawalpindi on Dec 27, 2007.

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India-Pakistan

FIA seeks capital punishment in Benazir case, says ATC passed verdict 'in a hurry'

2017-09-30

[DAWN] The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Friday challenged the verdict of an anti-terrorism court in the Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... murder case, arguing that the two guilty coppers as well as the five men acquitted of all charges deserve capital punishment. Last month, ATC had announced the verdict in the murder case, acquitting five Tehrik-e-Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... Pakistain (TTP) suspects ‐ Rafaqat Hussain, Husnain Gul, Sher Zaman, Rashid Ahmed and Aitzaz Shah ‐ and announcing 17-year imprisonment for two former police officials. The court had also declared retired Gen Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... an absconder in the case. The FIA moved the Lahore High Court (LHC) against the sentence through two separate petitions submitted on Friday. The first one argues that the two convicted culprits were not punished under the terrorism charges which were part of the case. The counsel for the agency also said that the ATC passed the verdict in a hurry without fulfilling legal requirements. According to the petition, filed in the Rawalpindi registry of the LHC, the two coppers ‐ former City Police Officer Saood Aziz and former Superintendent Police Khurrum Shahzad ‐ were sentenced under only two clauses each, whereas several other clauses, including terrorism, were also part of the case.

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India-Pakistan

Ex-ISI official refuses to testify in Benazir case

2015-06-03

[DAWN] RAWALPINDI: Former official of the Inter-Services Intelligence ...the Pak military intelligence agency that controls the military -- heads of ISI typically get promoted into the Chief of Army Staff position. It serves as a general command center for favored turban groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, tries to influence the politix of neighboring countries, and carries out a (usually) low-level war against India in Kashmir... (ISI), a key witness in the case, on Monday refused to testify against the suspects of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) being tried in Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... murder case. Ex-telephone operator of the ISI excused himself from testifying before the court ,saying his life is in danger as he lives in Karak district which is close to tribal areas. Consequently, the anti-terrorism court (ATC) discarded his earlier statement which he recorded before the team investigating Benazir murder case. The former official had confirmed to the investigating team that he intercepted the communication between the suspects and TTP terrorists. Five suspects Aitzaz Shah, Rafaqat Hussain, Husnain Gul, Sher Zaman and Abdul Rashid are facing trial in the case. Besides, former president retired Gen Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... , former CPO Rawalpindi Saud Aziz and former SP Khurram Shahzad were also accused in the case. Besides, refusal of former operator of ISI, another witness, Mark Seigel, could not testify before the court. The prosecution had informed the court that Seigel could record his statement through video link. The FIA prosecutor told the court that interior secretary was in contact with the Foreign Office and the officials of the Pakistain embassy in the US to contact Mr Seigal and arrange video link facility for him in the embassy.

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India-Pakistan

Two witnesses testify in Benazir murder case

2014-07-14

[DAWN] Two prosecution witnesses in Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... murder case testified before an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi on Saturday. Magistrates Ahmed Masood Janjua and Taufiq Chaudhry testified that they had recorded the confessional statements of Rafaqat Hussain, Husnain Gul, Aitzaz Shah and Abdul Rashid for their alleged involvement in the murder case. Magistrate Janjua informed the court that he had recorded the statement of Abdul Rashid who confessed to knowing and participating in the conspiracy to kill Ms Bhutto. Magistrate Chaudhry added that in their confessional statements Hussain and Gul had confessed to abetting suicide kaboomer Bilal who went kaboom! near the vehicle of Ms Bhutto. In the confessional statement, both the accused stated that they kept Bilal in a house near Liaquat Bagh where Ms Bhutto was assassinated on December 27, 2007. Regarding the confessional statement of Aitzaz Shah, magistrate Chaudhry said the accused had admitted his involvement in the conspiracy to murder Ms Bhutto. Shah, according to the statement, was ready for the suicide attack on Ms Bhutto but at the eleventh hour he was told that Bilal had been tasked with attacking the PPP leader. So far, 19 prosecution witnesses have been examined in the case. The court adjourned further proceedings till July 19 when four more prosecution witnesses will testify.

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India-Pakistan

Musharraf charged with Benazir's murder

2013-08-23

[Dawn] Former military ruler General (retd) Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... was indicted on three counts Tuesday in Rawalpindi's anti-terrorism court (ATC) over the 2007 murder of ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... Musharraf was also produced in the ATC amidst tight security during today's hearing of the case headed by ATC judge Habibur Rehman. A challan ... list of charges ... was read out against the former president and seven others nominated in Benazir's murder during the hearing. "He was charged with murder, criminal conspiracy for murder and facilitation for murder," public prosecutor Chaudhry Azhar told AFP at the ATC in Rawalpindi hearing the case. The seven accused persons include former City Police Officer (CPO) of Rawalpindi Saud Aziz, the then SP Khurram Shahzad, Hasnain Gul, Rafaqat Hussain, Sher Zaman, Abdul Rasheed and Aitzaaz Shah respectively. Musharraf and the accused men denied the charges. The court ordered the authorities to produce all the defendants in a hearing fixed for August 27 as it subsequently adjourned the matter to the said date for evidence to be brought.

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India-Pakistan

Foreign mission official arrested

2012-04-20

[Dawn] This is the second incident in the last two months in which a local official of an embassy was caught gathering information from the families of the missing persons. Previously, local staff of Canadian and Australian high commissions was tossed in the slammer for the same reason. A police officer said intelligence agency operatives on Wednesday spotted a stranger moving around the camp of the missing persons families at the National Press Club and was seen interacting with them. They mounted surveillance which revealed that the stranger was gathering information about the missing persons. They called the police which took the man into their custody and shifted him to Kohsar cop shoppe. During interrogation he introduced himself as Rafaqat Hussain, a security guard at the Swedish embassy in Islamabad. He told the police that he was collecting information for the embassy on the direction of his supervisor. The Sherlocks are verifying the status and the statement of the guard, a police officer said. He said when the embassy was approached an official said the security guard was asked to gather information about the protests in the city to avoid movements of embassy officials in troubled areas. The police said he was likely to be booked under PPC 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 124-A (sedition).

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India-Pakistan

Benazir killed for backing Lal Masjid operation

2012-02-13

ISLAMABAD — Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was killed because she supported the Lal Masjid operation, an anti-terrorism court was told in Rawalpindi on Saturday. Magistrate Taufiq Ahmed, who had recorded confessional statements of accused Rafaqat Hussain, Husnain Gul and Aitzaz Shah on February 13, 2008, said they told him that they wanted to kill only Benazir and because of the deaths of 23 other people in the attack, which they regretted, they would accept any punishment awarded to them. During the hearing of the Benazir assassination case in Adiala Jail, the magistrate read out the confessional statements before ATC Judge Shahid Rafique. According to the statements, the accused received Rs360,000 from Baitullah Mehsood while his associates, Abdullah alias Saddam and Qari Ismail, provided them two suicide bombers Saeed alias Bilal and Ikramullah. They purchased a pistol to be used by the suicide attacker because the plan was to kill Benazir near the stage during her rally in Liaqat Bagh on December 27, 2007. The accused, along with the suicide bomber, visited the venue on the night before the rally and took him to their residence in Quaid-i-Azam Colony in Rawalpindi. The accused brought the bomber to the venue early in the morning only to learn that because of tight security arrangements, it was difficult to get inside and near the stage. Then they deployed the bomber in front of the gate of Liaqat Bagh and another attacker Ikramullah at another exit point. After carrying out the crime, the accused reassembled near Fawara Chowk, Raja Bazar, and later went to their residence.

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India-Pakistan

Authenticity of evidence in BB case contested

2012-01-30

[Dawn] Hearing in the Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... liquidation case took an uncanny twist on Saturday when the defence counsel pointed out that the call data of the Zong cellular company provided by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) was not admissible as evidence because the firm launched its business in Pakistain in 2008, whereas the tragedy occurred in 2007. Naseer Tanoli, counsel for accused Rafaqat Hussain and Husnain Gul, during a cross-examination of prosecution witness Ahmed Faisal, a manager at Zong, told anti-terrorism court judge Shahid Rafique in Adiala jail that the call data of his clients and Nasrullah, an aide to the late Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistain leader Baitullah Mehsud, could not be linked with the liquidation because the cellular company did not exist in the country when the incident occurred on Dec 27, 2007. The FIA produced three more witnesses for cross-examination. Chaudhry Mohmmad Taufique, a judicial magistrate, who recorded confessional statements of the accused, told the court that Rafaqat Hussain, Husnain Gul and Aitzaz Shah had confessed to their crime and signed their statements with their thumb impressions. The defence counsel did not cross-examine magistrate Taufique and the court, while giving them final opportunity for cross-examining, adjourned the hearing to Feb 4.

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India-Pakistan

Pakistan court indicts seven over Bhutto killing

2011-11-06

[Daily Nation (Kenya)] A Pak anti-terror court Saturday indicted two coppers and five alleged Talibs over the 2007 liquidation of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, a prosecutor said. Nobody has been convicted or tossed in the slammer for Bhutto's liquidation on December 27, 2007, in Rawalpindi, a garrison city near the capital Islamabad, in a gun and suicide kaboom after she addressed an election rally. The death of the charismatic, Oxford-educated Bhutto, the first woman to become prime minister of a Moslem nation, threw the country into chaos, sparking violence and months of political turmoil. Police say that three other suspects in the high-profile case have been killed -- including the chief of the Pak Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud -- and two remain on the lam. "Seven accused including two coppers have been indicted," public prosecutor Chaudhry Azhar told AFP. The police were incarcerated a year ago while the suspected cut-throats have been in jug for nearly four years. The coppers were Saud Aziz, who was the Rawalpindi police chief at the time of the killing, and Khurram Shahzad, another senior policeman. The five suspected cut-throats are Sher Zaman, Hasnain Gul, Rafaqat Hussain, Abdul Rasheed and Aitzaz Shah from the troubled northwest of the country, Azhar said. All seven accused were indicted at the court in a high-security prison in Rawalpindi. The five alleged cut-throats are accused of "criminal conspiracy" for bringing the jacket wallah from the tribal belt in the northwest and keeping him at a house in Rawalpindi. "(All) the accused denied the charges and demanded for trial," Azhar said, adding that the coppers were accused of a security breach and for their "failure" to protect Bhutto. "One of the accused, Sher Zaman refused to sign the charge sheet," the prosecutor said. At the time of Bhutto's death, then president Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... blamed Mehsud for the killing. Musharraf, who lives in self-imposed exile in London and Dubai, is also wanted over Bhutto's death. Prosecutors issued an arrest warrant in February over what they said was his failure to provide her with enough security. The former president and military ruler is alleged to have been part of a "broad conspiracy" to have his political rival killed before elections. He denies the allegation. The anti-terror court in August ordered the confiscation of Musharraf's property and the freezing of his bank accounts in Pakistain, the prosecutor said.

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India-Pakistan

Benazir murder case: Indictment delayed again

2011-10-31

[Dawn] An anti-terrorism court here on Saturday delayed the indictment of seven accused in the Benazir Bhutto liquidation case for the fourth time since September. Special Judge ATC-I Shahid Rafique deferred the indictment of Aitzaz Sherazi, Sher Zaman, Rasheed Ahmed, Hasnain Gul and Rafaqat Hussain, former City Police Officer Saud Aziz and Superintendent Police Khurram Shahzad till November, because the SP and his counsel Malik Rafique could not appear before the court. Special Public Prosecutor of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali argued that the accused was deliberately using delaying tactics to prolong the trial. He said four years had already lapsed since the liquidation of the former prime minister. "Ms Bhutto was twice elected prime minister of the country and was also heading a major political party. Due to the delaying tactics, her liquidation case still remains undecided," he added. Mr Ali told Dawn that he had filed a petition for conducting the trial on a daily basis some three months back; adding under sub-section 7 of Section 19 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997, the court was bound to hear the case on a daily basis. He said if the accused were innocent, why they were afraid of facing the trial. Meanwhile, ...back at the pie fight, Bella opened her mouth at precisely the wrong moment... the same court accepted the bail plea of three accused in the NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... containers attack case. The court directed the accused, Ali Imran, Shujaur Rehman and Mohammad Azaz, to deposit bail bonds of Rs100, 000 each. The NATO trucks were attacked in June 2010 in the jurisdiction of the Tarnol police.

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India-Pakistan

Bhutto assassination suspects to be indicted next week

2010-11-16

[Emirates 24/7] A Pak anti-terrorism court will indict five suspected militants next week for their involvement in the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, a prosecutor said Monday. If they don't get off for lack of evidence they'll still be alive and well ten years later, like Omar Saeed Sheikh... "The challan ... list of charges ... of the case was presented today in Anti-Terrorism Court-III in Rawalpindi," Chaudhry Zulfiqar, a special prosecutor representing the Federal Investigation Agency, told AFP. "The accused will be indicted at the next hearing on November 23," he said, adding that the trial would be held inside the main prison in Rawalpindi. The five men were all arrested in the weeks following Bhutto's slaying in a gun-and-suicide attack at a political rally in Rawalpindi, a garrison city adjoining the capital Islamabad, on December 27, 2007. The prosecutor said five other suspects had been at large, of whom three had been killed, including Taliban and Al Qaeda commander Baitullah Mehsud. Mehsud, who had denied any involvement in Bhutto's assassination, was killed in a US drone attack in August 2009 in the lawless South Waziristan tribal district bordering Afghanistan. Suspects Aitzaz Shah, Hasnain Gul, Abdul Rashid, Sher Zaman and Rafaqat Hussain were arrested and now face charges of "criminal conspiracy" for bringing the suicide bomber from a tribal area and keeping him at a house in Rawalpindi, Zulfiqar said. "They (the suspects) were the suicide bomber's handlers and did it at the behest of Baitullah Mehsud. They provided the suicide jacket to Saeed alias Bilal and brought him to Liaqat Bagh, where Ms Benazir Bhutto was to address a rally." Zulfiqar also said that the suspects had reconnoitred the Liaqat Bagh area before the attack. He said that the statements of 124 prosecution witnesses had been presented to the court and provided to the accused. Police arrested Shah and Zaman in the troubled northwestern city of Dera Ismail Khan in January 2008 and the other three in Rawalpindi the following month. Gul and Rafaqat confessed in February 2008 to helping and sheltering the suicide attacker, to avenge the army's storming of a radical mosque in Islamabad that killed more than 100 people in July 2007. A three-member UN inquiry panel tasked with investigating Bhutto's assassination reported in April that it believed the Pakistani police's failure to probe the slaying effectively "was deliberate". The UN report also said that the government of then military ruler Pervez Musharraf had failed to provide Bhutto with adequate protection. The UN panel said its investigation was severely hampered by intelligence agencies and other officials who had impeded "an unfettered search for the truth".

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India-Pakistan

FIA blames TTP for Benazir murder

2010-05-28

[Dawn] The Federal Investigation Agency submitted in a court here on Wednesday a supplementary investigation report on the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. The report accuses the slain chief of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, Baitullah Mehsud, of masterminding the murder. Anti-Terrorism Court-I Special Judge Malik Mohammad Akram Awan adjourned hearing till June 12 when the five arrested accused, Aitzaz Shah, Sher Zaman, Abdul Rasheed, Hasnain Gul and Rafaqat Hussain, will be formally charged. The FIA said in the report that a joint team was continuing its investigation into the hosing down of the crime scene, negligence, inadequate security measures and failure to conduct post-mortem on the body of Ms Bhutto. It will submit a report after completing the probe. The FIA launched a re-investigation into the assassination in August last year. The FIA said it had gathered more evidence against the accused and those declared offenders. It said that DNA tests first conducted by the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology and later by an FBI laboratory in the United States on the limbs of two alleged suicide bombers -- Saeed alias Bilal and Ikramullah -- and on their articles found in the house of Hasnain Gul confirmed that the two lived with Gul in Rawalpindi. Accepting the findings of Punjab police, the FIA said the record of a call made by arrested accused and data of two numbers involved in conversation about the success of Dec 27, 2007, suicide attack confirmed the alleged role of the accused. The report said that certain students of Madressah Darul Uloom Haqqania Akora Khattak in Nowshera had been founded involved in the assassination of the former prime minister. About the alleged negligence of police officers on duty, the FIA said it had carefully examined statements of the officials concerned and witnesses and also scrutinised the relevant record. Members of the joint investigation team have found Rawalpindi police officers responsible for security breach, including the absence of police escort officer of Benazir on her departure form Liaquat Bagh, and a series of lapses, including the destruction of vital evidence and failure to conduct the post-mortem. The investigators were yet to fix responsibility because of conflicting statements of the police officers concerned. The FIA said that a final report would be submitted after completion of these aspects of the investigation. The probe team is also examining the failure of federal and Punjab governments to provide sufficient security to Benazir Bhutto during the election campaign and take action against officers guilty of negligence.

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