Benazir murder accused reinstated as SSP Special Branch

RAWALPINDI: Khurram Shahzad — the former Superintendent of Police (SP)-Rawal, who is one of those accused in the Benazir Bhutto murder case — was reinstated on Monday night as the SSP Special Branch, Geo News reported.

Shahzad took over the office duties after his reinstatement in accordance with the notification circulated earlier. The Lahore High Court (LHC) on August 31, 2017, had sentenced Shahzad as well as Saud Aziz — the former City Police Officer (CPO) — to 17 years in jail in addition to a payment of fines.

Following the ruling, Shahzad was detained in the Adiala Jail and Aziz was arrested as well. However, the Rawalpindi bench of LHC subsequently suspended the sentence and issued a notification announcing the reinstatement of Shahzad as SSP Special Branch.

It may be noted Shahzad is stationed as SSP Special Branch at the same time as he was sentenced, while Aziz has retired from the police force. Shahzad and Aziz were released on bail on the orders of the LHC's Rawalpindi Bench on October 6, following the suspension of their 17-year jail sentences and fines a day prior.

According to jail sources, the LHC's division bench granted bail to the convicted policemen on surety bonds worth Rs2 million each. Earlier, the Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) Judge Asghar Khan had sentenced both cops to an imprisonment of 17 years each — 10 years in prison under Section 119 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and seven years under Section 201 of the PPC.

They were also fined Rs1 million each for "facilitating [the] commission of an offence". It may be recalled that the policemen were charged for washing out the crime scene. The ATC around the end of August had announced its verdict in the well-publicised and highly-anticipated Benazir Bhutto murder case after nearly 10 years. Both the accused subsequently challenged their convictions in the LHC’s Rawalpindi Bench. The court will hear the appeals of the PPP, federal government and the police officers on November 25.

The officers had challenged their sentences through their counsels Azam Nazir Tarar and Raja Ghanim Aabir respectively, and the appeals were heard by a divisional bench that comprised Justice Tariq Abbasi and Justice Habibullah Amir. The officers' counsel argued before the bench that their clients had been blamed for the entire episode whereas the five suspected terrorists were exonerated.

On the other hand, the then-president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf’s trial was separated since he is an absconder. The FIA on September 29 had filed a petition in the LHC's Rawalpindi Bench challenging the ATC's decision in the murder case.

The petition maintained that the FIA has irrefutable evidence against the acquitted suspects — Aitzaz Shah, Sher Zaman, Abdul Rasheed, Rafaqat Hussain, and Hasnain Gul.  FIA's lawyers had sought approval from agency officials to also challenge the verdict. They sent a letter to the director-general, saying there was concrete evidence against the five accused who were released.