KARACHI: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Thursday termed the verdict in the Benazir murder case disappointing and unacceptable.
Bilawal took to Twitter to state that the decision was not only unjust but also dangerous and the PPP would explore legal options.
Earlier, the daughters of the former prime minister had also expressed their reservations regarding the verdict.
Aseefa Bhutto Zardari stressed that there would be no justice until former military dictator General (r) Pervez Musharraf answered for his crimes. The former prime minister’s daughter further said that justice was still awaited even after 10 years and while abettors had been punished, those guilty of Benazir’s murder roamed free. Assefa’s older sister Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari also called for the arrest of Pervez Musharraf.
The PPP leaders and workers also expressed disappointment and shock over the verdict. “The party believes that justice has not been done, nor it seems to have been done. The acquittal of Al Qaeda/ Taliban terrorists against whom evidence had been provided is most surprising and raises several questions. On its face it seems a triumph of Al Qaeda militants. It may be noted that the FIR in the case was got registered by the Punjab police without consulting the family and without making the PPP a party to it,” the party said in a statement. “The party recalls the apprehensions expressed by Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir about the plot to assassinate her. It is common knowledge and she had stated it in so many words that Musharraf had threatened her that if she returned to Pakistan before elections her life would be in danger,” it said.
Published in Daily Times, September 1st 2017.
