ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) Tuesday decided to form a larger bench to look into the issue of registering second FIR in the two-time Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s murder case.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, heard the petition regarding registration another FIR in the BB murder case.
The court has sought replies from all 12 respondents including former president General Pervez Musharraf (retd), Pervez Ilahi, Rehman Malik, Babar Awan and complete trial court’s record.
The CJP observed that President Zardari had questioned during his public address in Garhi Khuda Bakhash as to why the Supreme Court is not taking suo motto in the casse of Zufikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto adding it is serious matter while people want to know the truth about BB murder but unfortunately there is no any independent investigative agency in the country.
He pointed that Benazir Bhutto’s murder was a serious crime while the Government is not showing serious concern over the case.
Justice Tariq Parveez told the Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) that the FIR of Benazir Bhutto’s murder was not registered by her heirs.
The AGP Maulvi Anwar ul Haq replied that at the occasion of her assassination no any legal heir was in the country so first investigation report could not be registered by her family members.
During the hearing, the chief justice asked the attorney general if he was satisfied with the investigation progress. The AG said that there was no problem in the case so far, and the investigations were being carried out.
He also specified three different investigations including the Scotland Yard, a United Nations Commission’s report and a joint investigation team.
The chief justice said that the UN commission’s report was civil in nature, not criminal. He said that it was the task of the government to take clues from the UN report and carry out an independent investigation. The court observed that it was compulsory to have an independent investigation body.
Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry remarked that the court would constitute a commission which could be consisted of honest officers from all provinces.
The chief justice also ordered the special judge of an anti-terrorism court to submit photocopies of the FIR, reports and records, and a summary of the progress in the case in the next hearing.
During the hearing Lawyer Chaudhry Amjad Iqbal submitted an affidavit to the court on behalf of the two alleged suspects in the case, Brigadier Javed Iqbal Cheema and Kamal Shah, and said that that his clients did not have any involvement in the case.
Chaudhry Aslam, a former protocol officer of Benazir Bhutto filed the petition, seeking registration of another FIR in the case.
He pleaded the court to include the names of former president General Pervez Musharraf (retd), Rehman Malik, Babar Awan, Pervez Ilahi, former Interior Minster Hamid Nawaz, former DG Intelligence Bureau Ejaz Shah, former Interior Secretory Kamal Shah, Brig Javed Cheema (retd), former DCO Rawalpindi Irfan Ilahi, police offivers Saud Aziz, Yaseen Farooq and Khurram Shahzad. in the BB murder FIR because the first FIR submitted in the case did not mention the names of the “real culprits”. Online
