Benazir murder case: Convicted police officers challenge verdict

RAWALPINDI: The two convicted police officers in the Benazir Bhutto murder case have challenged their sentences before the Lahore High Court (LHC), Rawalpindi Bench, saying they were made scapegoats.

An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) of Rawalpindi on August 31 announced the verdict as the court convicted Additional Inspector General (retd) Syed Saud Aziz and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Khurram Shehzad with 17 years imprisonment each.

Saud Aziz challenged the sentence under section 25 of the Anti-Terrorism Act. Saud Aziz was awarded 10 years imprisonment under section 119 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) with fine of Rs500,000. He was also awarded 7-year rigorous imprisonment under section 201 of PPC with fine of Rs500,000.

Both the petitioner adopted before the court that the convictions and sentences awarded to them were not maintainable in peculiar circumstances of the case and on the basis of law applicable thereto. That there were material contradictions and discrepancies in the statements of the prosecution witnesses. Trial court had not appreciated the evidence on record in its perspective while ignoring settled principle of criminal law. The petitioners said that five co-accused were acquitted while they were made scapegoats.

ATC instead of applying judicious mind to this case relied upon the inquiry/investigation, the petitions said. “There is not a single iota of evidence available that the petitioners facilitated the commission of offence or voluntarily concealed any act or illegally omitted to perform their duties, therefore conviction recorded against the petitioners is totally unsustainable as it is based on surmises and conjunctures,” the petitions said.

The petitioners filed these petitions through their counsels Azam Nazir Tarrar and Raja Ghanim Aabir advocates respectively. The two police officers are currently detained at Adyala jail. An LHC bench is likely to take up this matter next week.

Meanwhile, former president Asif Zardari will file an appeal against the Anti-Terrorist Court verdict in Benazir Bhutto assassination case.  “Former president Asif Ali Zardari will file three appeals as legal heir of the victim aggrieved by the verdict as first appeal will be against the decision to hold a separate trial against former president Pervez Musharraf, second against releasing the five accused and third one against the police officials for increasing their sentences,” said PPP Spokesperson Senator Farhatullah Babar while talking to The News.

He said Asif Zardari also signed legal attorney (Wakalatnama) in favour of his counsel Sardar Latif Khosa who will represent Zardari in the case. The PPP also decided that its Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari would become an intervener in the Presidential Reference filed by the President Asif Ali Zardari in the Supreme Court to revisit the Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto case. 

Senator Farooq H Naek will represent Bilawal Bhutto in pursuing the presidential reference on behalf of Bilawal Bhutto as intervener. These decisions were taken at a high level party meeting in Bilawal House, Karachi and was attended by Asif Zardari, Bilawal, Faryal Talpur, Opposition leader in the National Assembly Khursheed Shah, Opposition leader in the Senate Aitzaz Ahsan, former prime minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani, Sindh former chief minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, PPP Secretary General Syed Nayyer Hussain Bokhari, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Latif Khosa, Farooq Naek, Rahman Malik, Sherry Rehman, Qamar Zaman Kaira and others.