RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (Reuters) - A Pakistani anti-terrorism court on Thursday declared ex-military leader Pervez Musharraf a fugitive in the murder case of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and acquitted five people in the killing.
As an “absconder”, Musharraf must be arrested and brought to trial if he returns to Pakistan after being allowed to leave the country last year. The court also ordered Musharraf’s property in Pakistan seized.
Bhutto was assassinated in a suicide and gun attack in Rawalpindi in 2007, weeks after she returned from exile to campaign in elections to bring back civilian rule.
Bhutto’s daughter Aseefa Zardari tweeted after the court’s decision that “There will be no justice till Pervez Musharraf answers for his crimes!”
Five accused members of the Pakistani Taliban were found not guilty of any role in the attack due to a lack of evidence.
Special Prosecutor for the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Khawaja Mohammad Imtiaz said he found the acquittal surprising.
“We believe there was a very strong case against them,” he told reporters after the verdict, adding that three of the men had confessed to assisting in the attack.
Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala told Parliament today that the suspect in the rape of a lady doctor at the Anuradhapura teaching hospital has been identified as an army deserter and he will be apprehended shortly.
Police have arrested the suspect connected to the sexual assault on a female doctor at the Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital today morning in Galnewa.
The Dutch Public Prosecutor suspects two companies of paying bribes in the construction of hospitals in Sri Lanka, according to an investigation by FD, the Dutch financial newspaper.
The Government today tabled in the House the Report of the Commission to Inquiry into the Establishment and Maintenance of Unlawful Places of Detention and Torture Chambers in the Batalanda Housing Scheme.
The Minister of Power, Kumara Jayakody, stated that in the future, internationally funded projects, such as power projects, will only be carried out through government-to-government (G2G) agreements and competitive procurement.
Three persons arrested on Saturday close to the Thalawila St Anne’s Church have been held under detention orders for questioning.
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