MUSHARRAF ARRESTED OVER BHUTTO MURDER: PROSECUTORS
Islamabad, 17 Jumadil Akhir 1434/26 April 2013 (MINA) – Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has been “formally arrested” for his alleged role in the murder of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, according to Press TV reports monitored by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).
“Today FIA (Federal Investigative Agency) formally arrested General Musharraf in the Benazir Bhutto case,” prosecution lawyer Chaudhry Azhar as saying on Thursday (25/4).
Musharraf will remain at his Chak Shahzad farmhouse residence on the edge of Islamabad where he is already under a two-week house arrest over his decision to sack judges during a crackdown on the judiciary in 2007.
He is scheduled to appear at an anti-terrorist court in Rawalpindi city near Islamabad on Friday (26/4).
The arrest of the former military ruler came one day after a Pakistani court refused to extend Musharraf’s bail in connection with the murder of former prime minister.
Bhutto was killed in a gun-and-bomb attack in December 2007 as she was leaving an election rally in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.
The Bhutto case is the second of three cases against Musharraf dating back to his rule from 1999 to 2008. He is also accused in a case relating to the death of a Baluch leader during a 2006 military operation.
Human Rights Watch has called on the Pakistani government to hold Musharraf accountable for widespread and serious human rights abuses committed when he was president.
The former army general, who grabbed power in an October 1999 bloodless coup, stepped down in August 2008 as president of the country when his allies lost parliamentary elections in February 2008 and a new government threatened him with impeachment. A year later, he left the country.
Last month, Musharraf returned home after nearly four years of self-imposed exile in London and Dubai to run for the parliamentary elections, which are scheduled to be held on May 11. (T/P09/E1)
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).
