The Federal Investigation Authority (FIA) rejected an adjournment plea of former President Pervez Musharraf in Benazir Bhutto assassination case, saying that Anti-Terrorist Court Rawalpindi had declared him a Proclaimed Offender (PO). After following the apex court orders in a writ petition filed by former Protocol Officer of Banazir Bhutto (BB) Chaudhry Muhammad Aslam, seeking directions regarding registration of second FIR in BB murder case, the FIA filed reply on Saturday.
Former president Pervez Musharraf sought an adjournment of one month through an application filed by his counsel Sheharyar advocate, stating that he had not received any copy of the case so the court could give him more time to file a reply. In his application, Musharraf contended that all allegations against him were baseless and that he had rejected the allegations. Musharraf stated that he had a constitutional right to defend himself. The FIA statement said it was the view of the court that a PO had no locus standi to represent himself in the court through any of his counsel/representative until he surrendered himself before the court.
Anti-Terrorism Court III, Rawalpindi declared Musharraf a PO on June 11, 2011. However, the Trial court on receipt of challans submitted by the FIA Joint Investigation Team (JIT) framed charges against the accused persons and recorded evidence of 14 PWs. Eight accused, including Pervez Musharraf, have been declared POs by the trial court. The FIA reply said that the JIT summoned petitioner Chaudhry Aslam to give evidence as one of the 86 injured persons in the bomb blast. However, he, on various pretexts, neither joined nor produced any evidence at all. During investigations a number of office-bearers of PPPP were examined.
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