Islamabad: A Pakistani anti-terrorist
court on Wednesday remanded two top police officers arrested for
alleged negligence in providing security to slain former
premier Benazir Bhutto to judicial custody for a fortnight.
The court`s decision came even as the lawyer of former
Rawalpindi police chief Saud Aziz, one of the arrested police
officers, claimed that he had made adequate arrangements for
the election rally addressed by Bhutto on the day she was
killed by a suicide bomber.
Aziz`s lawyer Waheed Anjum told a news conference in
Rawalpindi that Pakistan People`s Party leader Rehman Malik,
who was Bhutto`s security advisor, had been alerted by Aziz
about the risks associated with Bhutto appearing outside her
bulletproof vehicle.
Bhutto was killed in a gun and bomb attack when she
opened an escape hatch in her armoured SUV to wave to a crowd
that gathered around the vehicle as she was leaving an
election rally on December 27, 2007.
Many experts and even PPP leaders have contended that
Bhutto would have survived the attack if she had not opened
the escape hatch.
Judge Rana Nisar Ahmed of the Rawalpindi-based
anti-terrorism court rejected the Federal Investigation
Agency`s request to extend the physical remand of former
Rawalpindi police chief Saud Aziz and Superintendent of Police
Khurram Shahzad, who were arrested for alleged negligence in
providing security to Bhutto and for hosing down the crime
scene within hours of the assassination.
Aziz`s lawyer Waheed Anjum told a news conference in
Rawalpindi that Pakistan People`s Party leader Rehman Malik,
who was Bhutto`s security advisor, had been alerted by Aziz
about the risks associated with Bhutto appearing outside her
bulletproof vehicle.
Bhutto was killed in a gun and bomb attack when she
opened an escape hatch in her armoured SUV to wave to a crowd
that gathered around the vehicle as she was leaving an
election rally on December 27, 2007.
Many experts and even PPP leaders have contended that
Bhutto would have survived the attack if she had not opened
the escape hatch.
Judge Rana Nisar Ahmed of the Rawalpindi-based
anti-terrorism court rejected the Federal Investigation
Agency`s request to extend the physical remand of former
Rawalpindi police chief Saud Aziz and Superintendent of Police
Khurram Shahzad, who were arrested for alleged negligence in
providing security to Bhutto and for hosing down the crime
scene within hours of the assassination.
