Co-accused likely to go off the hook

ISLAMABAD - The co-accused booked with Gen. (Retd) Pervez Musharraf in the murder case of Nawab Akbar Bugti had little role in the whole affair and could easily get off the hook at the time of trial, legal experts and those aware of the development informed TheNation on Sunday.
A first information report (FIR) was registered by the Dera Bugti Police Station on the direction of Balochistan High Court on October 13. The FIR implicated the then president Gen. Pervez Musharraf, prime minister Shaukat Aziz, interior minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao, chief minister Balochistan Jam Yusuf and governor Awais Ahmad Ghani in the murder of Nawab Akbar Bugti. He was killed in a military operation near Kohlu in August 2006 along with around 40 mercenaries.
The petition for lodging of FIR with Balochistan High Court was filed by Jamil Akbar Bugti, son of the slain Baloch nationalist leader.
When contacted, the then federal minister for interior Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao said that he was not aware of the contents of the FIR and his counsel would look into it after getting a copy of it. He, however, said that the then federal government had little role in the operation launched in Balochistan primarily to bring peace in the troubled areas and protect the government installations frequently made target by the miscreants.
He said that he had no prior information about Army’s plan to kill Nawab Akbar Bugti and he also came to know about it once the operation was concluded. He admitted that the federal government had given approval to the military operation but once the Army was authorised to launch the operation, the nitty-gritty of it was left to the Armed Forces. The practice is in vogue even now, he said referring to the military operations launched recently in Swat and Malakand where Army was given free hand to deal with the terrorists.