Saturday 12 February 2011

Arrest warrant for Musharraf over Bhutto murder

Arrest warrant for Musharraf over Bhutto murder

A Pakistan court has issued an arrest warrant for exiled former president Pervez Musharraf over the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Skip related content
Mrs Bhutto was killed in a gun and suicide bomb attack after an election rally in the city of Rawalpindi in December 2007, weeks after she returned to Pakistan after years in self-imposed exile.
Her assassination was one of the most shocking events in Pakistan's turbulent history and remains shrouded in mystery.

A spokesman for Mr Musharraf said: "The court has issued an arrest warrant and asked that he should be produced before the court during the next hearing on February 19."

Mr Musharraf has repeatedly dismissed suggestions he, the security agencies or military were involved in killing his old rival.

The former military chief came to power in a bloodless coup in 1999 but has lived in self-imposed exile since he stepped down under threat of impeachment in 2008. He spends most of his time in London and Dubai.
He has expressed his intention to return to Pakistan and said he aimed to establish offices for his new political party by March.

The warrant for his arrest follows a similar court order in December for the arrest of two senior police officers on allegations they failed to provide adequate security for Mrs Bhutto before her assassination.
A report by a UN commission of inquiry released last year said any credible investigation into the killing should not rule out the possibility that members of Pakistan's military and security establishment were involved.
It heavily criticised Pakistani authorities, saying they had "severely hampered" the investigation. The initial investigation blamed a Pakistani Taliban leader and al-Qaeda ally, Baitullah Mehsud, for Bhutto's murder.

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