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Benazir Bhutto: Five Cleared Of Ex-Pakistan PM Murder
Ms Bhutto served twice as prime minister of Pakistan
September 1st, 2017 | 09:47 AM | 1816 views
PAKISTAN
A special Pakistani court has acquitted five suspected Taliban members of conspiracy to murder former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007.
The judges cited lack of evidence against them, but jailed two others, who were policemen, for negligence in failing to prevent the killing.
The court also declared ex-President Pervez Musharraf, who has been charged in the case, a fugitive from justice.
Ms Bhutto was killed in a gun and bomb attack after an election rally.
Mr Musharraf, an ex-army chief, has lived in self-imposed exile since last year, and faces having his property confiscated. He has not commented on the verdict and has denied having any role in the killing.
His government blamed the assassination on Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who denied any involvement. He was killed in a US drone attack in 2009.
The chairman of Ms Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP), her son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, said on Twitter that Thursday's court ruling was "unacceptable" and that it would explore legal options.
Her daughter, Aseefa Bhuto Zardari, said: "We still await justice. Abettors punished but those truly guilty of my mothers murder roam free."
She added: "There will be no justice till Pervez Musharraf answers for his crimes."
A dominant figure in Pakistani politics, Ms Bhutto served twice as the country's prime minister, from 1988 to 1990 and from 1993 to 1996.
Young and glamorous, she successfully portrayed herself as a refreshing contrast to the male-dominated political establishment.
But after her second fall from power, she became associated in the eyes of some with corruption and bad governance.
Ms Bhutto left Pakistan in 1999, but returned in October 2007 after then-President Musharraf granted her and others an amnesty from corruption charges.
She was set to take part in an election called by Mr Musharraf for January 2008.
But her homecoming procession in Karachi was bombed by suspected militants. She survived the attack, which killed well over 150 people, but would be assassinated two months later.
How was she killed?
Ms Bhutto's killing sent shockwaves across Pakistan, but the exact cause of her death is disputed. She was attacked as she was leaving a rally in Rawalpindi on 27 December 2007.
She was standing upright in her armoured vehicle, with her head exposed above the open roof escape hatch, waving to the crowd when an attacker opened fire. Seconds later, a bomb was set off at the scene which left some 20 other people dead.
A report by UK police - asked by the Pakistani government to investigate the case - concluded she was killed as a result of the explosion. The impact of the blast forced Ms Bhutto's head to collide violently against the side of the escape hatch.
The report also said the attack was the work of one person, who first fired at Ms Bhutto's vehicle and then set off a suicide bomb. The findings appeared to support the government's view that she died as a result of head injuries.
In 2010, a UN report said her death could have been prevented and that Mr Musharraf's government failed to provide enough protection - at the time his aides dismissed the report as a "pack of lies".
Source:
courtesy of BBC NEWS
by BBC NEWS
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