Islamabad: Former military ruler Pervez Musharraf on Thursday alleged Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari of killing his wife Benazir Bhutto – a two-time Prime Minister — and her brother Murtaza Bhutto.
In a video message, Pervez Musharraf said that “innocent officers” — former Rawalpindi city police officer Saud Aziz and former Rawal Town superintendent of police Khurram Shahzad were sentenced to 17 years in prison while five terrorists, who were under custody, were acquitted. “I was quiet when Zardari accused me of murdering Benazir Bhutto,” he added.
Mr Musharraf further revealed that senior Afghan leaders were also involved in the murder as Mr Zardari had contacts with former Afghan President Hamid Karzai. “My revelations are important for (Mr Zardari’s children) Bilawal (Bhutto), Asifa (Bhutto) and Bakhtawar (Bhutto),” he said.
Mr Musharraf raised two pertinent questions in his Thursday interview. He alleged that Benazir Bhutto emerged from the car’s overhead hatch only after she received calls to come out of the car and once’s bullets and the suicide bomb, her mobile phone was immediately removed from the scene after the attack, making it difficult to determine who made the calls.
Equally pertinent, Mr Musharraf asked about the fate of Khalid Shahenshah, her personal bodyguard who was in the car with Ms Bhutto — and had been filmed, minutes earlier as he stood only inches away from her on the podium where she was speaking.
Shahenshah was repeatedly signalling to someone in the audience that they should aim for her neck and head as she was wearing a bullet-proof vest.
Only days later, the bodyguard who had worked with Zardari and who was reportedly forced on Benazir after her own personal guards were fired, was mysteriously found dead with a bullet to his head.
