Daily Times

QUETTA – An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Quetta on Monday acquitted former president General Pervez Musharraf in the case of the murder of former Jamhoori Watan Party president Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, reported by a private TV channel.

The court also acquitted two others – former federal home minister Aftab Khan Sherpao, former provincial home minister Shoaib Nosherwani. The ATC rejected the request by Nawabzada Jamil Akbar Bugti, a son of late Nawab Akbar Bugti, to order exhumation of the body of his father to confirm that the body buried in Dera Bugti was that of his father.

Bugti’s son Nawabzada Jamil Akbar Bugti had nominated former president Pervez Musharraf, former prime minister Shaukat Aziz, former Balochistan governor Owais Ahmed Ghani, Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao and others in the murder of his father.

An FIR was registered under sections 302 and 304 of the Pakistan Penal Code against Musharraf and others in 2009 for their alleged involvement in Bugti’s murder.

Nawab Akbar Bugti was killed in a massive military operation in the Bhambore Hills, an area between the cities of Kohlu and Dera Bugti in August, 2006. Musharraf – who was president at the time – had directed the military operation.

“Yes, Nawab Bugti has been killed in the operation,” former federal minister for information Mohammad Ali Durrani said. According to reports, Musharraf was told just before 12am on Sunday that Nawab Bugti had been killed. As many as 21 army commandos and 37 rebels had also been killed in the same operation – which targeted 50 to 80 of Nawab Bugti’s closest family members and top commanders.