Top Pak cops face arrest: Bhutto killing

Dec 06, 2010 |

Reuters

Islamabad, Dec. 5: A Pakistani anti-terrorism court has ordered the arrest of two senior police officers on allegations they failed to provide adequate security for the former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, before her 2007 assassination, a prosecutor said on Sunday.

Bhutto’s assassination was one of the most shocking events in Pakistan’s turbulent history and remains shrouded in mystery.

“The court has issued warrants and these are non-bailable. They can be arrested anytime,” the special prosecutor, Mr Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali said.

“I argued that they were responsible for Bhutto’s security and they failed to make security arrangements and they ordered the crime scene to be hosed down despite resistance from other officials.”

Mr Ali named the two police officials as Saud Aziz, former police chief of Rawalpindi, where the attack took place, and one of his deputies, Khurram Shahzad.

Bhutto was killed in a gun and suicide bomb attack after an election rally in the city of Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007. An initial probe blamed a Pakistani Taliban leader and al Qaeda ally, Baitullah Mehsud, for the murder.

A report by a UN commission of inquiry said any credible investigation should not rule out the possibility that members of Pakistan’s military and security establishment were involved.

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