Pakistan Supreme Court Rejects Plea To Cancel Bail Of Cops In Benazir Bhutto's Assassination

The Pakistan Supreme Court on Friday, October 5 quashed an application seeking to cancel the bail approved for the two policemen convicted in the assassination case of the former Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto.

''In the peculiar circumstances we don't find any reason to interfere with the Lahore High Court (LHC), therefore, the petition is dismissed, '' the Express Tribune quoted from the order, which the two-judge bench issued.

The bench, comprising Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, was hearing Rashida Bibi's plea, the widow of Benazir security's personnel- Akram Kaira, who died along with the former Prime Minister in the December 27, 2007, Liaqat National Bagh blast. 

Rashida was contending the Lahore High Court's granting of the bail of the two police officers- Saud Aziz and Khurram Shahzad, who was on August 31, 2017, convicted by the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC). Aziz was the chief of the police in Rawalpindi, where Benazir was assassinated, while Shahzad was the superintendent of the police of Rawal Town.

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The ATC had awarded them an imprisonment term of 17 years for negligence in security arrangements, although the LHC had on October 5, 2017, rejected the order and granted them bail. Additional Attorney General Nayyar Rizwi had supported the LHC's granting of the bail on behalf of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)

Following the hearing of the case, Benazir's son and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari stated that his family had an old connection with the Supreme Court, adding that three generations of his family are seeking justice from it. 

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The PPP chairman further stated that his father, Asif Ali Zardari had sent a reference to then- Chief Justice of Pakistan- Iftikhar Chaudhry, pertaining to the case of former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, although the case had not been heard yet.