Pervez might face trial

The Pakistan government may try former military ruler Pervez Musharraf for involvement in the assassination of two-time Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, official sources said.

$93We are looking into the UN report which clearly indicates negligence on part of the then government,$94 a senior government official told this newspaper.
He said it is up to President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to decide if they want to put their hands on Mr Musharraf who lives abroad after quitting power in 2008.

$93Once a decision has been taken, the authorities can act against Pervez Musharraf,$94 he added.

Ms Bhutto was killed in a December 27, 2007, gun and suicide-bomb attack during a rally in Rawalpindi city, where she was campaigning for general elections.

The three-member UN panel said that her death could have been avoided if Mr Musharraf’s government and various security agencies had taken adequate measures. It also found that the probe into her death was deliberately hampered by intelligence agencies and other officials.

A possible link between Benezair’s $93independent$94 position on improved relations with India with its implications for the Kashmir dispute, and her assassination has also been drawn by the UN investigation.

Among the positions taken by Bhutto that $93touched$94 the $93establishment’s$94 concerns was $93her independent position on the urgent need to improve relations with India, and its implications for the Kashmir dispute, which the military had regarded as its policy domain

The report, released on Thursday, was hailed by the PPP. Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said the report backed up the PPP belief that Mr Musharraf or his allies were responsible for Bhutto’s death.

Mr Babar has said the investigative report of UN’s independent panel, which look into assassination of Benazir Bhutto, has $93specified the direction$94.

He said the government of Pakistan is not ignorant of the assassination investigation. The presidential spokesman said the presidency’s view of the report will be announced after thorough review of the probe report.

On the other hand, Major General Rashid Qureshi (retd), a close aide of Mr Musharraf, said the UN report on the assassination of Benazir Bhutto is a $93pack of lies$94 that wrongly implicates Pervez Musharraf and security forces for not stopping her killing.

Gen. Qureshi insisted that the UN report is based on rumours and that Mr Musharraf is in no way responsible for Bhutto’s death.

$93This chief UN investigator is not the relative of Sherlock Homes,$94 Gen. Qureshi said, noting that Mr Musharraf himself had been the target of suicide attackers.

$93Benazir Bhutto and her chief security officer Rehman Malik decided to go ahead with their planned election rally when we asked them to cancel it. It was Benazir Bhutto who exposed herself to the attacker,$94 he added.

The UN report said that the former military regime failed to protect Benazir Bhutto despite its knowledge of the numerous threats she faced, adding the assassination $93could have been prevented$94. $93Ms Bhutto’s assassination could have been prevented if adequate security measures had been taken,$94 asserted an independent commission of inquiry headed by Heraldo Munoz, Chile’s UN ambassador, who unveiled the report at a press conference at the UN offices.

The 65-page report was an indictment of the former dictatorship of Pervez Musharraf, the intelligence services, the Punjab police and the district police of Rawalpindi, where a suicide bomber killed Ms Bhutto.

$93The commission believes that the failure of the police to investigate effectively Ms Bhutto’s assassination was deliberate$94, the report continued.

$93The officials, in part fearing intelligence agencies’ involvement, were unsure of how vigorously they ought to pursue actions, which they knew as professionals, they should have taken$94, the report said.
$93More significantly, the Inter-Services Intelligence conducted parallel investigations, gathering evidence and detaining suspects. Evidence gathered from such parallel investigations was selectively shared with police$94, the report said.