Benazir murder case: Musharraf declared a proclaimed offender

An anti-terrorist court on Monday declared former military dictator General Pervez Musharraf as proclaimed offender in murder case of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto as he failed to appear before the court. The court also ordered to advertise in newspapers that he was a proclaimed offender and the next step would be the confiscation of Musharraf's property under section 88-N.
The court had earlier issued arrest warrants of Pervez Musharraf being main accused in the case, and directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to submit compliance report about his arrest warrants. Rana Nisar Ahmed, Judge of the Anti-Terrorist Court (ATC) III resumed the hearing of the Benazir Bhutto assassination case in Central Jail Adiala on Monday during which all accused except Pervez Musharraf were present.
When learnt judge sought the compliance report of the arrest warrants from FIA prosecutor, the prosecutor informed the court as there was no extradition treaty between Pakistan and the UK, no progress had been made on the arrest warrants against Pervez Musharraf.
FIA prosecutor presented a four-page report regarding the un-serviced arrest warrants of Pervez Musharraf, in which he stated that the British authorities have declined to comply with the arrest warrants of Pervez Musharraf and have taken the stand that there was no agreement between the two countries for the handing over the accused persons. The FIA investigators have presented documents and a CD of the statements of the former president, in which Musharraf has said that he will not appear before the court in Benazir Bhutto murder case.
FIA requested the court for starting the process of declaring Pervez Musharraf a proclaimed offender. After hearing the arguments from the FIA prosecutor, the court declared Pervez Musharraf as proclaimed offender and adjourned the case hearing till June 11. Later, FIA Prosecutor Chaudhry Azhar informed the media that the court has also disposed of the contempt of court case against the Director General of the FIA, Malik Muhammad Iqbal, following the restoration of the investigation officer to whom once again the investigation has been assigned.
Chaudhry Azhar said that Musharraf intentionally did not comply with the court orders. He said that after advertisement, confiscation of Musharraf's property under section 88-N would be started, adding that regular hearing will start against other accused, including former CPO Rawalpindi Saud Aziz and SP Khurram Shehzad.