It is inexplicable that after the passage of three years the administration sought a statement from the man driving the bullet proof Prado in which Benazir Bhutto was assassinated; and speaks volumes of a hidden agenda, said Senator Safdar Abbassi, senior PPP leader while talking to Business Recorder on Wednesday.
"We are not against the investigation, but it should go in the right direction and every one against whom an allegation has been levelled should pass the litmus test of investigation", Abbasi said. Where was this driver for the last three years and why was a statement from him not recorded earlier? he questioned and added that the inclusion of his wife Naheed Khan and himself will raise concerns over the investigation.
There should be an appropriate process of investigation, he maintained. The investigators must question each and every person against whom allegations were levelled. Allegations were levelled against former military dictator Musharraf, for IB chief Aijaz Shah, former Interior Secretary Kamal Shah, sitting ministers Rehman Malik and Babar Awan, Abbassi said. Why are they not being questioned, he demanded.
Abbasi expressed reservations over the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) of FIA saying that this investigation team is not moving in the right direction. "There is dire need of a high profile investigation team which will not only question me and my wife Naheed Khan, but every person against whom an allegation was levelled", he said. "We are ready to go to any forum to help trace the real culprits behind the murder of Benazir Bhutto and are in favour of giving them exemplary punishment", he said.
Safdar Abbassi maintained that so far he had not received anything in black and white from JIT. "When they contact me or Naheed, we will definitely cooperate in the investigation, like we did in the past", he added. He said that he and his wife Naheed Khan, a close aide of slain PPP leader, have always co-operated with all investigation teams-Scotland Yard team, UN Investigation Commission, and the Joint Investigation Team. "We have co-operated with the sole aim of bringing the assassins to justice", he said.
"Though we had reservations over JIT yet we provided detailed answers to their questionnaire", Abbassi said. The expansion of the JIT of FIA-probing the Benazir Bhutto assassination case-with new Terms of Reference (ToR) has raised concerns that the government wants to implicate the close associates of the slain PPP leader in the investigation.
The Interior Ministry on December 25 expanded the JIT and included DIG (Operations) of Islamabad Police Bani Amin and SP Sindh Police Karachi, Rao Iftikhar. FIA sources revealed to this scribe that JIT under the new ToRs would question the former SSP and security officer of Benazir Bhutto, Major Imtiaz Hussain (Retd), Senator Safdar Abbasi and Naheed Khan as all were present in the same vehicle as the slain leader at the time of her assassination.
Meanwhile, Anti-Terrorism Court has rejected the plea of the JIT for extension in physical remand of two former senior police officers Saud Aziz and Khurram Shahzad in Benazir Bhutto murder case and sent them to Adiala Jail on 14-day judicial remand. The FIA was ordered to present the accused before the court again on January 12. ATC Judge Rana Nisar resumed the hearing of Benazir Bhutto assassination case in the high security Central Jail Adiala. The FIA prosecutor Public Prosecutor Chaudhry Azhar pleaded before the court to extend the physical remand of the detained officers for further investigation in this high profile murder.
Advocate Malik Waheed Anjum, the counsel of Saud Aziz while talking to media contradicted the plea of Public Prosecutor (PP) saying that the PP is distorting facts before media in Benazir Bhutto murder case. Saud Aziz had made no contact with any secret agency, Anjum said, adding that he would unveil important facts before media at a press conference on Wednesday.
He alleged that Public Prosecutor Chaudhry Azhar was handpicked from Sialkot by Interior Minister Rehman Malik and maintained that Saud Aziz had no links with officials of Military Intelligence (MI) and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Former police officials Saud Aziz and Khurram Shehzad, were arrested on the charge of negligence of duty which led to the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto on December 27, 2007 in Liaqat Bagh when she was leaving the venue after addressing an election rally.