ISLAMABAD: Former military strongman General (r) Pervez Musharraf has said he would return to Pakistan to face trial in the murder case of ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Thursday pronounced Musharraf a fugitive in the murder trial but acquitted five men accused of involvement in the 2007 assassination of Bhutto — the first female prime minister of a Muslim country.
In a statement issued to the media on Sunday by the All Pakistan Muslim League (APML), Musharraf said the verdict of the Rawalpindi ATC was not against him.
“I will certainly come back to Pakistan and face the trial, as and when I am medically fit,” he said. “I have been framed in the Benazir Bhutto murder case by way of political victimisation, while I had nothing to do with her untimely and tragic death,” he said.
“I have not been the beneficiary of prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s murder and the entire case as pitched against me is materially false, fictitious, fabricated, and is a result of political intrigue,” the former army chief said.
Terming American journalist and lobbyist Mark Siegel’s statement “meaningless”, Musharraf said that his lawyers had already refuted the comments. Siegel, in his testimony in 2015, had claimed Musharraf had threatened Bhutto with dire consequences if she chose to return to Pakistan from exile.
The anti-terrorism court also ordered the confiscation of his property.
The former dictator said that his legal team was looking into the issue of his property’s seizure and that he, or his family, would take appropriate legal action after consultation.
The verdicts are the first to be issued since Bhutto was killed in a gun and suicide bomb attack nearly a decade ago, sparking street violence and plunging Pakistan into months of political turmoil.
Musharraf — the former president and military ruler — is alleged to have been part of a broad conspiracy to have his political rival killed before elections. He has denied the allegation.
He was charged with murder, criminal conspiracy to murder, and facilitation of murder in 2013, in an unprecedented move against an ex-army chief, challenging beliefs the military is immune from prosecution.
But he has been in self-imposed exile in Dubai ever since a travel ban was lifted three years later.
Musharraf’s government blamed the assassination on Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who denied any involvement. He was killed in a US drone attack in 2009.
In 2010, the UN report accused Musharraf’s government of failing to give Bhutto adequate protection and said her death could have been prevented.
Apart from Musharraf, five other men — Baitullah Mehsud, Ahmad Gul, Iqramullah, Abdullah, and Faizullah — were also declared absconders.
The case had lingered on for nearly 10 years. During the case, 68 witnesses appeared on behalf of the prosecution and recorded their testimonies. The police presented three charge sheets before the court, whereas the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) presented five.
The judge hearing the case was changed eight times.
In 2013, FIA’s special prosecutor in the case was killed by unknown assailants. Doctors said he had been killed with 10 bullets targeting his chest and shoulder.
Benazir Bhutto — twice elected prime minister of Pakistan — was assassinated when terrorists attacked her convoy, as it was leaving the historic Liaquat Bagh after addressing a public meeting on Dec 27, 2007.
