ATC to hold BB murder trial in jail

RAWALPINDI - Punjab Home Department Saturday conveyed to the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) that the trial of the five accused allegedly involved in the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto would be conducted in the Central Jail Adiala due to security concerns.

However, the ATC No I Judge Chaudhry Habibur Rehman adjourned the hearing in the trail till October 11 after the prosecution submitted an application seeking adjournment saying the special public prosecutor Sardar Ishaq Khan had undergone kidney transplantation and couldn’t appear in the court.

Earlier, Rawalpindi Police has sought the jail trail of five accused Aitzaz, Sher Zaman, Abdul Rasheed, Rafaqat and Hasnain Gul.

Aitzaz, Sher Zaman and Rasheed are accused of concealing the conspiracy to kill Ms Bhutto and the other two, while Rafaqat and Hasnain are accused of facilitating the suicide bomber who blew up himself on December 27 and killed Benazir.

In two other suicide attack cases; one in R A Bazaar and the other in Civil Lines Police area, the court put off the hearing till October 11, as the investigators are yet to submit the charge sheet against the two accused and report about their proceedings in declaring the Baitullah Mehsud, Chief of banned Pakistan Tehrik-i-Taliban and four others as proclaimed offenders.