Prosecution manipulated evidence in ZAB trial Mian Tufail, Maulvi Mushtaq worked with SPP to

ISLAMABAD: An extremely surprising revelation, that the prosecution manipulated the evidence of the confessing accused, has surfaced in the former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto case currently being revisited by the Supreme Court on a presidential reference.
Advocate Supreme Court, Muhammad Farooq Bedaar, has submitted an affidavit in the apex court to help the 11-member Supreme Court Bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry witness how prosecutors manipulated things to ensure that ZAB got the death sentence.
In the original ZAB case, the prosecution side comprised (Late) Anwar Bar-at-Law as Public Prosecutor, along with (Late) Mr Ijaz Hussain Batalvi and (Late) M A Rehman. Bedaar, at that time, was an associate of Anwar and working in his Law Chamber.
The affidavit, which Muhammad Farooq Bedaar has submitted, is in possession of The News and establishes foul play and manipulation of the prosecution side in the ZAB case.
Following is the text of the affidavit submitted by Farooq Bedaar:
“The deponent takes oath and solemnly affirms and under:-
1. That after obtaining his degree of LLB from the University of Punjab in the year 1966, the defendant joined the chamber/office of Mr Anwar Bar-at-Law, who was then one of the leading lawyers in criminal and constitutional law.
2. That the deponent remained the associate of Mr Anwar till his death and was considered to be his confidant.
3. That after Mr Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was dethroned and Zia-ul-Haq became the Chief Martial Law Administrator, and it was decided to prosecute Mr Bhutto for the murder of Nawab Muhammad Ahmed Khan, (Late) Mr Anwar was appointed as Public Prosecutor along with (Late) Mr Ijaz Hussain Batalvi and (Late) M A Rehman.
4. That when Mr Anwar was appointed Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) in Bhutto case, his meeting with leaders of all shades of life and officials increased and, therefore, the responsibility of the deponent also increased as he

had to perform the duties of host also.
5. That the trial of Mr Bhutto had not yet commenced but was about to start when one afternoon, the deponent reached Mr Anwar’s office at Race Course Road Lahore and wanted to enter Mr Anwar’s room but he was not allowed to go in. It was very surprising for the deponent as it had never happened ever since the deponent has joined the Chamber. Alla-ud-Din, the servant of Mr Anwar, told the deponent that there were specific orders that even Mr Farooq should not be allowed to enter Mr Anwar’s room.
6. That the deponent sat in his room from where the entrance of Mr Anwar’s room could be seen. After about 20/30 minutes, the deponent saw Mian Muhammad Tufail, the then Amir Jamaat Islami coming out of the room of Mr Anwar and sitting in his car. Few minutes later, to the utter surprise of the deponent, then Chief Justice of Lahore High Court, Maulvi Mushtaq Hussain also came out of the room of Mr Anwar, sat in his car and went away.
7. That as soon as the chief justice had left, the deponent was called in by Mr M Anwar said, “I know you must be very annoyed but the matter was so serious that it could not be discussed in your presence but I don’t mind telling you that according to jail information the confessing accused in Bhutto case are retracting their confession before the trial court and two belong to Jamaat Islami, therefore Mian Muhammad Tufail has been invited and assured by the Chief Justice on the further assurance of Zia-ul-Haq that in the event of their being convicted their sentence will not be executed” and that Maulvi Muhammad Tufail had gone to jail to convince and assure them.
8. That after about 1-1/2 hour or 2, the telephone rang. The deponent picked-up the phone and said “Hello,” the other side said: contact me with Anwar Sahib (in Urdu language). The deponent handed over the phone to Mr Anwar what was said from the other side, obviously could not be heard. Mr Anwar said “Good, Excellent, thank you” and disconnected the phone and addressing the deponent he said, “They have agreed to - we have a strong case (all in Urdu language).”
9. Needless to say that Mr Anwar had died when perhaps the third witness was being examined. According to personal knowledge of the deponent, the entire proceeding of Bhutto case was audio taped, a transcript of which was prepared by the High Court staff.
Signed Deponent and oath commissioner Lahore High Court signed on May 2nd, 2011.”