Benazir Bhutto murder: Musharraf sent questionnaire

ISLAMABAD - Pervez Musharraf has been sent a questionnaire by the interior ministry regarding the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007, when he was the president.

Dawn reported Friday that the questionnaire was sent to Musharraf, who now lives in self-exile in the UAE and London, even as two arrested former police officers told investigators that some intelligence officials were in contact with them on the day Bhutto was killed.

Bhutto was assassinated Dec 27, 2007, after addressing an election rally in the northern Pakistani city of Rawalpindi. A teenaged shooter was seen aiming for her head in the CCTV footage before a powerful suicide blast killed at least 24 people participating in the rally.

The interior ministry at that time accused the Taliban of plotting to kill Bhutto while the doctors said “her head banged against the lever of the sunroof which caused her death”.

“We have sent the questionnaire to General Musharraf and are waiting for his reply,” Advocate Zulfiqar, who represents the probe team, was quoted as saying.

Interior ministry sources said the document sent to Musharraf contained questions about the security lapse and asked the former president why he did not provide adequate security to Bhutto although she had expressed fears about threats to her life, the media report said.

Fawad Chaudhry, Musharraf’s spokesman, maintained the former president had nothing to do with Bhutto’s security. He termed the government’s move to send the questionnaire to Musharraf an attempt to politicise the case.

The Federal Investigation Agency Thursday got six days’ custody from an anti-terror court of former chief of Rawalpindi city police Saud Aziz and Superintendent of Police Khurram Shahzad to recover the cellphones they were using on the day Bhutto was killed.

Special Public Prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar said that the arrested police officers had informed the investigators that four officers of the spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence and Military Intelligence were in contact with them.