Musharraf charged with abetment in Benazir Bhutto’s murder
The Federal Investigation Agency has now applied for non-bailable arrest warrants to compel the former president to appear before Rawalpindi’s anti-terrorism court.
Pakistani authorities have formally charged former president general (retd) Musharraf with abetment in Bhutto’s murder as they have finally concluded that he had prior knowledge of the murder plot but withheld vital information. The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has now applied for non-bailable arrest warrants to compel him to appear before Rawalpindi’s anti-terrorism court.
According to the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) of the FIA, Musharraf knew that the Tehrik-e-Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud was plotting to assassinate Bhutto.
The JIT had questioned brig (retired) Javed Iqbal Cheema, who headed the interior ministry`s national crisis management cell at that time. Brig (Cheema) told the JIT that it was Musharraf who had ordered the premature press conference which he addressed on Dec 28, 2007 — a day after Bhutto’s assassination — without consulting even the Punjab government which was dealing with the case.