DUBAI: Former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf has claimed that PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari is ‘directly involved’ in the assassination of his wife Benazir Bhutto and her brother Murtaza Bhutto.
“You should see that it was Zardari who had benefitted from Benazir’s murder,” said Musharraf in a video message today.
His statement came days after he was accused of being involved in BB’s murder.
On August 31, the ATC in Rawalpindi acquitted five alleged operatives of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) for want of evidence over the assassination of Benazir in a gun and suicide attack in Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007.
“Soon after her [Benazir’s] murder, Zardari got people’s sympathy and support and he was made the president of Pakistan,” the former COAS said.
Musharraf further went on to say that the PPP leader did nothing to investigate the murder of Murtaza Bhutto as he enjoyed his stay in the presidency for five years.
“Why would Zardari investigate his [Murtaza Bhutto’s] murder when he, himself carried out the assassination,” he asked. “It should always be analysed as to who benefited from a murder.”
The former army chief further urged the authorities to investigate as to who killed Khalid Shehenshah, the person who was supposed to provide security to Benazir.
On Monday, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)’s counsel Sardar Latif Khosa filed three separate petitions in the Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court, challenging the verdict of Benazir murder case.
The first petition says Musharraf masterminded the conspiracy to kill Benazir. It claims that statement of American journalist Mark Siegel and foreign ministry’s former spokesperson Javed Iqbal Cheema as well as probes by the Scotland Yard and United Nations are ‘concrete evidence’ of Musharraf’s involvement.
However, Musharraf denied any charges against him and said that it’s Zardari who was the ‘master planner’.
“The charge they are levying against me is that I did not provide Benazir adequate security — [but that is] something I was not responsible for. The only question I have is, who took the decision to create a hatch in the roof of a bullet and bomb proof car?
“The other thing is, Benazir had a heavy security detail. She had already addressed the public gathering and gotten into the car unharmed, before someone called her incessantly and got her to wave to the people out of the hatch. Her phone was not found for over two years after the assassination attempt,” he alleged.
