RAWALPINDI: The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC-I) Tuesday reserved its judgement over retrial of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto murder case after arrest of former president Pervez Musharraf.
The former dictator, who was arrested by Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on April 26, is on bail against two surety bonds of Rs one million each in assassination case of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairperson Benazir Bhutto and has exemption from court attendance due to security concerns.
FIA's Public Prosecutor Chaudhry Azhar and PPP's senior lawyer Sardar Muhammed Latif Khosa pleaded before ATC Judge Chaudhry Habib-ur-Rehman to advance the case proceedings without any further delay as its retrial would be tantamount to wastage of time.
Azhar said around 23 witnesses have so far recorded their statements before the court and they could be summoned for cross-questioning again but retrial of the case would be wastage of court's time, money and beneficial for accused.
Sardar Latif Khosa said PPP is not in favour of retrial of the case, which is lingering on for last more than five years.
He said the proceedings be advanced at fast pace for early disposal of the case.
Ilyas Siddique, Counsel for Musharraf, contended that according to law there should be retrial of the case after arrest of Musharraf so that witnesses' statements could be recorded in the presence all accused.
Malik Rafiq, counsel for former police officials including Saud Aziz and Khurram Shahzad, said it is a known practice that whenever main accused is arrested in any case, retrial is initiated.
He held the previous government of PPP responsible for inordinate delay in trial of the high-profile case, saying that delaying tactics were used for unknown reasons.
On completion of arguments, ATC Judge Chaudhry Habib-ur-Rehman reserved the verdict over retrial of the case and adjourned the hearing till October, 1.
Meanwhile, the ATC also admitted a petition filed by the Social Justice Party seeking immunity for Musharraf in Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto murder case under article 248 of the constitution.
It is also pleaded that Musharaf can not be included in investigation or declared accused in the case, as at the time of Benazir Bhutto's assassination; he was president of the country.
Admitting the plea, the ATC issued notices to counsels for all the parties concerned to appear before it on October 1.
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