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Pakistan SC rejects plea to cancel bail of cops in Benazir Bhutto's assassination

Kashmir Times. Dated: 10/7/2018 12:53:38 PM

ISLAMABAD, Oct 6 (Agencies): The Pakistan Supreme Court on Friday quashed an application seeking to cancel the bail approved for the two policemen convicted in the murder case of former Prime Minister 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 the two-judge bench issued.
The bench, comprising Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, was hearing Rashida Bibi's plea, the widow of Benazir's security personnel - Akram Kaira, who died along with the former Prime Minister in the December 27, 2007, Liaqat National Bagh blast.
Rashida was contending the LHC's grating of the bail to the two police officers -Saud Aziz and Khurram Shahzad - who were, on August 31, 2017, convicted by the Anti Terrorism Court (ATC).
Aziz was the chief of police in Rawalpindi, where Benazir was assassinated, while Shahzad was the superintendent of police of Rawal Town.
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 Rizvi 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.
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 Bhutto, although, the case had not been heard yet.