The apex court has summoned Pervez Musharraf on March 22 along with his original CNIC in Benazir Bhutto's murder case. The Supreme Court had ordered to paste a notice outside Musharraf's residence in Pakistan with a warning that some other cases against him were also being heard in the country.
It is to be noted that the Supreme Court on Monday directed that a notice be pasted outside the residence of former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, asking him to submit a reply in the Benazir Bhutto assassination case.
A three-member bench of the apex court comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Parvez heard a plea filed by Chaudhry Aslam, former protocol officer of the ex-prime minister, seeking to lodge second FIR in the Benazir Bhutto murder case.
Aslam sought the registration of a second FIR against 12 respondents, including former president Gen Musharraf, former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, Interior Minister Rehman Malik, former law minister Babar Awan, the then acting interior minister Lt-Gen Hamid Nawaz(retd), former director general of Intelligence Bureau Ijaz Hussain Shah, former interior secretary Syed Kamal Shah, for spokesman of interior ministry Brig Javed Iqbal Cheema (retd), former Rawalpindi DCO Irfan Elahi, SSP, Rawalpindi Saud Aziz and SPs Khurram Shehzad and Yasin Farooq.
However, Punjab Police argued that second FIR could not be lodged into Benazir murder as challan was submitted to the court. The court was told that former president general Pervez Musharraf, former CCPO Saud Aziz, former SSP Yasin Farooq, Khurram Shahzad and Babar Awan could not be served notices. On this, the court directed its registrar office to ensure process of the delivery of notices to all the respondents in the case.
During the hearing, the chief justice noted that no one was taking the case seriously, as most of the respondents did not turn up. The court also accepted the Federal Investigation Agency's (FIA) application seeking to be a respondent in the case and adjourned the case for two weeks.
The court was informed that senior advocate Anwar Mansoor would represent Interior Minister Rehman Malik, one of respondents in the petition.
The court was also informed that a notice had been sent to Pervez Musharraf on the available address, but as per the process server's report, he was residing abroad.
The court then directed that the notice be pasted at his residence for the next date of hearing so that he may be intimated about the proceedings pending before the court.