While resuming hearing of a plea that has sought the court orders for the registration of second First Information Report (FIR) against former president Pervez Musharraf and 12 others in Benazir Bhutto assassination case, the Supreme Court on Monday declared that if the former military dictator was interested to avail right of audience he should surrender before the court because he had already been declared as Proclaimed Offender (PO).
A three-member bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Parvez also directed the respondents to positively file their replies by April 16. At the outset of hearing, Federal Investigation Agency's prosecutor Chaudhry Azhar told the court that although Musharraf received summons, he did not reply. He submitted that Musharraf's arrest warrants were issued and he was declared the PO by the Anti Terrorism Court Rawalpindi due to his continuous absence. He said the FIA had approached the Interpol to arrest Musharraf.
Justice Tariq Parvez noted that the apex court had also issued summons of Musharraf on the FIA's application which, according to reports, had already been received by him. The Chief Justice observed that Musharraf - an absconder - should hand himself over to the law. Justice Khilji Arif Hussain noted that the absconder should first surrender before the court, according to law.
During the hearing, Raja Aamir Abbasi, counsel for Rehman Malik, sought time for submitting a reply. The court allowed his request and directed him to file a reply till April 16. Advocate Shehryar Khan apprised the bench that he was not appearing as counsel for Musharraf. According to him he was appearing on court's notice.
The Chief Justice noted that no one was taking the case seriously as most of the respondents had failed to furnish their replies or turn up before the court. The respondents are: former President Musharraf, the then 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), the then director general of Intelligence Bureau, Ijaz Hussain Shah, the then interior secretary, Syed Kamal Shah, the then Interior Ministry's spokesman Brigadier Javed Iqbal Cheema (Retd), the 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 Chaudhry Aslam's plea through which he had requested the court to put names of Babar Awan and Rehman Malik on Exit Control List (ECL). One of the judges had written an additional note, saying that Chaudhry Aslam was neither an aggrieved party, nor a legal heir of Benazir Bhutto, thus he had no right to seek registration of an FIR in her murder case.
In his plea before the Supreme Court, Chaudhry Aslam criticised Lahore High Court's June 23 decision. He submitted that the Lahore High Court had failed to give due consideration to the United Nations report, on which $60 million was spent to conduct an investigation into Benazir Bhutto's assassination.
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