Benazir Bhutto's assassination: serve notice on each respondent, Supreme Court tells registrar's office

While resuming hearing on a plea seeking court orders for another First Information Report (FIR) registration in Benazir Bhutto's assassination case, Supreme Court Monday issued directives to display notices on the outer walls of former President Musharraf's residence with a view to intimating him about the case pending before the court.
A three-member bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Parvez directed its Registrar's office to also ensure the delivery of notices to other 12 respondents in the case. Petitioner Muhammad Aslam Chaudhry and his counsel Rashid A. Rizvi appeared before the bench. Maulvi Anwar-ul-Haq Attorney General for Pakistan also appeared on court notice while some of the respondents were also represented by their counsel.
During the hearing, the Chief Justice noted that no one was taking the case seriously, as most of the respondents in the case had failed to turn up. The bench was told that senior advocate Anwar Mansoor would represent Interior Minister Rehman Malik - one of respondents in the petition.
The bench was also apprised that a notice could not be sent to former president Pervez Musharraf because he was currently residing abroad. Also, former Law Minister Babar Awan could not be reached because he does not have a permanent office presently, the bench was told.
The bench asked the AGP to obtain complete address of Babar Awan and serve notice on his address within two days. The bench also issued directives to Inspector General of Police, Punjab, Haji Habibur Rehman, to ensure the service of notices to Punjab police officers, who are also respondents in the case.
However, in their written replies submitted through the Prosecutor General Punjab before the bench, former Rawalpindi city police chief Saud Aziz and former Rawalpindi City SP Khurram Shehzad, maintained that there was no need of registration of second FIR as the challans of the already registered FIR had been submitted and the case was under adjudication before the trial court.
Besides, they added, the petitioner had no locus standi to file such a plea, as neither he was a legal heir to the late Benazir Bhutto nor was he an affected party. The court also accepted the Federal Investigative Agency's (FIA) application seeking to become a respondent in the case, and adjourned the case for two weeks.
According to the Registrar's office, the respondents who have not been served notices include: Pervez Musharraf, Saud Aziz, the then CPO, Rawalpindi, Yasin Farooq, the then SSP(Operation), Rawalpindi, Khuram Shahzad, the then SP, Rawal Town, Rawalpindi and Babar Awan.
The application seeking registration of second FIR against 12 respondents was filed by Chaudhry Muhammad Aslam, former protocol officer of Benazir Bhutto. The 12 respondents are: former President General Musharraf, former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, Interior Minister Rehman Malik, former law minister Babar Awan, the then acting interior minister Lieutenant General Hamid Nawaz (Retd), former director general of Intelligence Bureau Ijaz Hussain Shah, former interior secretary Syed Kamal Shah, then Interior Ministry's spokesman Brigadier Javed Iqbal Cheema (Retd), then Rawalpindi DCO Irfan Elahi, SSP, Rawalpindi Saud Aziz and SPs Khurram Shehzad and Yasin Farooq.
On June 23, 2011, Rawalpindi Bench of the Lahore High Court dismissed the plea of Chaudhry Aslam, through which he had requested the court to order the placement of names of Babar Awan and Rehman Malik on the Exit Control List (ECL). One of the judges had written an additional note that Chaudhry Aslam was neither an aggrieved party, nor was he a legal heir to Benazir Bhutto, thus he had no right to seek registration of an FIR in her murder case.
According to petitioner Chaudhry Muhammad Aslam, he has been trying for registration of second FIR since July 8, 2009, but without any success. In his plea before the Supreme Court, Aslam contended that the Lahore High Court's June 23 decision was unlawful, perverse, without jurisdiction and based on the fanciful application of mind. He submitted that the Lahore High Court had failed to give due consideration to the United Nations report, on which $60 million were spent for investigation of Benazir Bhutto's assassination.