Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Two separate petitions were filed in the Supreme Court on Wednesday challenging the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) decision to release the two senior police officers convicted in the former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s assassination case.

The petitions contend that the LHC had not examined and reviewed the facts of the matter before accepting the bail applications of the two officers.

They said that both police officers had resumed charge of their offices in the police force despite being nominated in the high profile murder case, which concluded in 10 years.

The petitions also contend that the officers had exploited their positions in securing release on bails. The Supreme Court has been requested to suspend the LHC’s verdict in the interest of justice.

Saud Aziz had been charged for ordering the removal of Superintendent of Police Ishfaq Anwar from Liaquat Bagh and for failing to send the body of the deceased leader of the Pakistan People’s Party for an autopsy.

Khurram Shahzad has been charged with directing officials to wash the crime scene to destroy potential evidence that could have led investigators to the assassins.

Saud Aziz was the chief of Rawalpindi police when Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in 2007. Khurram Shahzad was a Superintendent of Police (SP) at Rawal Town.

Both officers had been sentenced to prison for 17 years for negligence in security arrangements. They were also fined Rs1 million each by an Anti-Terrorism Court of Rawalpindi which took about a decade to conclude the case.

Published in Daily Times, October 12^th 2017.