ATC acquits Musharraf in Akbar Bugti murder case

QUETTA: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Quetta on Monday acquitted former military dictator Pervez Musharraf in a case related to the murder of Nawab Akbar Bugti.

In a short order read out by ATC judge Jan Mohammad Gauhar, the court also acquitted former federal interior minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao and former Balochistan Home Minister Mir Shoaib Nowsherwani in the case.

Leader of the Bugti clan in Balolchistan, Akbar Khan Bugti was killed in a cave on August 26, 2006 during a military crackdown ordered by Musharraf, who was president and army chief at the time.

Hearing the case today, judge Jan Mohammad Gauhar also rejected pleas by Nawabzada Jamil Akbar Bugti, the late Akbar Bugti's eldest son, to exhume the buried corpse and carry out DNA tests to ascertain that it was his father's body.

Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Bugti's lawyer Sohail Rajput criticized the investigation team in the case, and said that he was not satisfied with the court's verdict.

"Everyone is aware of the facts. We believe that those responsible should be punished," he said. "We aren't satisfied with the judgment and will challenge it in court." 

Former president Pervez Musharraf was indicted in the case in January last year, charged on the grounds that he ordered the killing.

Musharraf ordered the military crackdown in Balochistan in late 2005 after being targeted by a rocket attack while visiting
the province.

He is currently on bail on a number of other high-profile cases linked to his term as president, including the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, the raid on Lal Masjid in Islamabad, and a case related to the detention of judges.