Rediff on the NeT: Sharief to look into murder charges against Benazir

Sharief to look into murder charges against Benazir

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief said on Friday he would look into charges of murder filed by his political allies against ex-premier Benazir Bhutto.

Sharief made the statement after members of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party brought up the issue in Parliament. Shoaib Bokhari, a senior Mohajir Quami Movement leader and provincial labour minister, filed a complaint with the Karachi police late on Wednesday, claiming Bhutto conspired to kill the brother and nephew of exiled MQM leader Altaf Hussain who lives in London. Nasir Hussain and his son Arif were found shot dead in Karachi in November 1995.

PPP legislators called the murder charge filed against Bhutto as political victimisation since her name was not mentioned in the report filed in 1995. Bhutto's father, former premier Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was tried and hanged on the basis of a similar report and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, is currently being tried on the charge of conspiring in the murder of her estranged brother, Murtaza Bhutto, last September.

Bokhari named Bhutto in the 1995 murders the day after she left on a short visit to London. He alleged that Abdullah Shah, former chief minister of the southern Sindh province, was also involved in what he called a conspiracy. Shah, who faces unrelated criminal charges, went underground late last year.

Police sources said former interior minister Naseerullah Babar and three police officers were also named in the complaint. An investigation has been launched but no formal charges have been filed yet.

Bhutto, who fought against the MQM during her three-year tenure, left for London on Tuesday to meet her sister and is expected to be back in a fortnight. She had launched an anti-terrorist operation against the MQM to control lawlessness in Karachi following the withdrawal of army troops in December 1994 after a similar three-year operation.

President Farooq Leghari cited failure of controlling lawlessness and extrajudicial killings among the reasons for dismissing the Bhutto government on November 5, 1996.

The MQM, which represents urban Urdu-speaking immigrants from pre-Partition India, is a coalition partner with the ruling Pakistan Muslim League in the federal and Sindh governments.

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