News
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Benazir Bhutto murder caseMusharraf to be arrested through Interpol: Malik
* Interior minister tells Sindh Assembly former president failed to provide security for Benazir
* Taliban, al Qaeda responsible for assassination of former PM
KARACHI: Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Tuesday the government would approach Interpol to arrest former president Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf in the murder case of former premier Benazir Bhutto.
Briefing the Sindh Assembly about the probe into Benazir’s assassination, Malik said the government was seeking Musharraf’s arrest because he allegedly failed to provide adequate security for Benazir, who was killed in a gun and suicide bomb attack in 2007.
The minister said the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was behind both October 18, 2007, and December 27, 2007, attacks on the former prime minister. He said Baitullah Mahsud, Ilyas Kashmiri, and al Qaeda leader Abu Ubaidullah Misri were involved in the assassination plan.
No less than 27 terrorists groups had come together under the umbrella of TTP to assassinate Benazir, he added.
Malik along with his team members briefed assembly members about the investigation through charts, graphs and audio and video presentation. The briefing was arranged following the provincial assembly’s resolution, which had demanded that the government make public the probe.
The minister said a joint investigation team (JIT) had foolproof evidence and undeniable proofs against Benazir’s killers, adding that forensic details had also been collected.
“Both Pervez Musharraf and militants based in FATA considered Benazir Bhutto a threat for themselves as she was a strong proponent of democracy and democratic values,” he said.
Reiterating active involvement of TTP and al Qaeda in the killing of former premier, Malik said the assassination plan had been prepared by Abu Ubaida al-Masri and executed by Baitullah Mehsud through the Haqqani network of Taliban. “Baitullah Mehsud had given Rs 400,000 to the Taliban associated with Haqqani network for the Liaquat Bagh attack on Benazir.”
Malik said the doctors concerned had told the investigators that a senior police official had stopped them from carrying out Benazir’s postmortem.
He said PPP leader Raja Pervez Ashrraf had opposed Benazir’s December 27 public meeting in Rawalpindi, but “Nahid Khan, political secretary of the former prime minister, had favoured the procession despite security threats”.
Malik said that former Sindh chief minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim would also be questioned on his return to the country. JIT head Khalid Qureshi told assembly members that the plan for the attack on Benazir was prepared at a hostel of Madarssa Haqqania, Akora Khattak, by radical students. They included Nasrullah, Nadir alias Qari Ismail, Sher Zaman, Hasnain Gul, Rashid Ahmad alias Abdul Rahim Turabi, Abdullah alias Saddam, Ibadur Rehman and Faiz Muhammad, Qureshi added. “It was, however, suicide bomber Said who executed the plan.”
Malik also advised the Sindh government to re-investigate the October 18 twin blasts and Sindh Law Minister Ayaz Soomro told reporters after the assembly session that the provincial government would constitute a team of police officers to probe the October 18 bombing. staff report/app
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk