RAWALPINDI:
Eighteen years after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto — the ‘Daughter of the East’ and Pakistan’s first woman prime minister — the legal labyrinth surrounding her murder remains unresolved, its many threads still tangled despite years of investigations, trials and appeals.
The long afterlife of Benazir’s trial remains deprived of closure as the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) workers and leaders observe the death anniversary of the former prime minister at the site where she was assassinated in a gun-and-bomb attack on December 27, 2007.
Although the PPP remained in power for eight years after her killing, it failed to conclusively identify or bring to justice the masterminds behind the assassination.
The case dragged on for a decade before a special Anti-Terrorism Court and has now spent another eight years languishing at the Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC).
From January 1, 2024, to December 27, 2025, the case was not fixed for hearing even once, and there is little prospect of it being taken up before January 31.
Benazir was assassinated on December 27, 2007, in bitterly cold and overcast weather, moments after addressing a public rally at Rawalpindi’s historic Liaquat Bagh. As she was leaving the venue near Liaquat Bagh Chowk, she was first fired upon and then targeted in a suicide bombing.
It was the second assassination of a prime minister at Liaquat Bagh, named after the nation’s first prime minister, Liaquat Ali Khan similarly murdered in 1951. Alongside Benazir, 27 party workers were martyred and 98 others were injured.
Despite the assassination of its chairperson and a former prime minister, neither the Bhutto family nor the PPP became the complainant in the case, compelling the police to assume that role.
The case underwent four separate inquiries, including by the United Nations, the UK’s Scotland Yard, the Punjab Police and, finally, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). In total, seven challans were submitted, 12 judges were changed during proceedings, 291 hearings were conducted and statements of 57 witnesses were recorded.
During the trial, senior prosecutor Zulfiqar Chaudhry, who was pursuing the case, was himself assassinated on a hearing day. The PPP also produced US journalist Mark Siegel as a witness via video link from the Pakistani High Commission in the UK. However, he failed to adequately answer rigorous cross-examination by defence lawyers.
Over eight years, the high court conducted only seven hearings, all limited to procedural adjournments. The hearing judge issued summons on at least a dozen occasions to PPP leaders, including President Asif Ali Zardari, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Sanam Bhutto, Bakhtawar Bhutto and Asifa Bhutto. However, the party did not pursue the case from start to finish.
After completion of the FIA investigation and trial, ATC Judge Muhammad Asghar Khan delivered the verdict on August 31, 2017, following a decade-long trial. Five accused, including Aitzaz Shah, Sher Zaman, Hasnain, Rifat and Abdul Rashid, arrested by police, were acquitted and described as scapegoats.
Conversely, former Rawalpindi city police officer Saud Aziz and SP Khurram Shehzad were declared guilty and sentenced to 17 years’ imprisonment each, along with fines of Rs1 million.
Both were arrested and jailed, but later secured bail from the High Court and remain free on bail.
The eighth accused, former president and military ruler Pervez Musharraf, was declared a proclaimed offender after repeatedly failing to appear. The court issued permanent arrest warrants, ordered confiscation of his movable and immovable assets, freezing of bank accounts and his extradition through Interpol.
However, none of the orders were implemented, and Musharraf later passed away in Dubai after a prolonged illness.
Following the verdict, three acquitted accused, namely Aitzaz Shah, Sher Zaman and Hasnain, were released.
However, Abdul Rashid remains imprisoned at Adiala Jail even after 18 years and is currently under detention, while the fifth acquitted accused, Rifat, went missing from the gates of Adiala Jail upon release and remains untraced to this day.
After the verdict, Asif Ali Zardari filed an appeal in the high court, challenging the acquittal of the five accused and seeking Musharraf’s return for trial, but not appealing the convictions or sentences of the two police officers.
However, the FIA filed appeals against both the acquittals and the police officers’ sentences. In total, 12 appeals related to the Benazir Bhutto murder case are pending before the high court.
Speaking to this correspondent, senior advocate Asad Abbasi, representing the PPP’s Benazir Bhutto murder case panel, said the appeals had awaited hearing for far too long and that an application for early hearing would be filed immediately after court holidays.
He vowed that the party would not remain silent until the killers of Benazir Bhutto were fully exposed. “Justice has been delayed, but it has not been extinguished. The innocent blood of Benazir Bhutto will bear fruit,” he said.
