Pakistan’s embattled ex-military ruler Pervez Musharraf was today remanded to the custody of the Federal Investigation Agency till April 30 by an anti-terrorism court in connection with the 2007 assassination case of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
Though anti-terrorism court Judge Chaudhry Habib-ur-Rehman accepted the FIA’s request to be given physical custody of Musharraf, the 69-year-old former military ruler will continue to be held at his farmhouse for security reasons.
During a brief hearing in the court in Rawalpindi, the FIA’s lawyers told the judge that they wanted physical custody of Musharraf so that he could be questioned about Bhutto’s assassination.
The judge directed the FIA to produce Musharraf in court again on April 30.
Chief prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali said a joint investigation team will question Musharraf at his farmhouse on the outskirts of Islamabad, declared a “sub-jail” by authorities.
“All institutions are saying there is a high-level threat to Pervez Musharraf. To ensure the safe custody of Musharraf, we asked the court that we should be allowed to keep him at (his farmhouse),” Ali told reporters.
The judge rejected a request from Musharraf’s lawyers for changing the joint investigation team.
Officials said investigators will question Musharraf about several issues.
The investigators will ascertain who stopped Bhutto’s autopsy and whether Musharraf had made a threatening call to Bhutto before her return to Pakistan from self-exile in 2007.
Investigators also intend to ask Musharraf who had directed the Interior Ministry spokesman to hold a news conference soon after Bhutto’s death and whether this was intended to influence the investigation.
At the news conference shortly after the assassination, the spokesman had alleged that Bhutto was murdered on the orders of former Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Baitullah Mehsud.
The joint investigation team is expected to complete questioning Musharraf by May 3.
–PTI