Analysts, politicians weigh in after Benazir verdict

ISLAMABAD: An anti-terrorism court on Thursday acquitted five accused in the Benazir Bhutto murder case and sentenced two accused to 17 years in prison. 

ATC Judge Asghar Khan announced the verdict and also declared former military ruler Pervez Musharraf as an absconder.

Director News Geo News Rana Jawad said that the decision is perplexing as it focuses on individuals who neglected their duties after Benazir's murder and does not focus on the real culprits. 

The decision fails to address the main question which is about the identity of Benazir's actual killer, said Jawad. 

Senior journalist and analyst Hamid Mir said he was not surprised over the decision. 

He said that Benazir had talked to him before her murder and had said that Musharraf, among others, would be responsible if anything were to happen to her. 

Mir added that Benazir had also named certain members of banned organisations, some of whom were arrested later but the big fish were not. 

Referring to the 2008 general elections, Mir said the PPP won the elections as it promised to investigate Benazir's murder. 

PPP had five years to investigate, but did not cooperate with teams tasked with investigating the murder, he said further. 

Mir also said that the PPP did not want to target Musharraf as it had an NRO deal with him. 

PPP leader Nayyar Bukhari said he was not satisfied with the verdict and is waiting for the detailed judgement. 

He added that the sentence handed is not strict enough and an appeal will be filed once the detailed verdict is issued. 

Senior journalist and analyst Mazhar Abbas said that neither was the conspiracy uncovered neither were the killers. 

He further said the real story is still incomplete as we still do not know who the real conspirators are and added that a high-level investigation should be conducted. 

Abbas further said that even the United Nations team was given complete access. 

He added that the PPP has many questions to answer and so does former military ruler Pervez Musharraf. 

The senior journalist also questioned what did the PPP do during their five-year tenure and asked how many PPP leaders have observed court proceedings during the previous nine years.