Islamabad: The plot behind the 2007 assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto was hatched at the home of a Pakistani army brigadier, claimed a media report, which was dismissed as "totally concocted" by Interior Minister Rehman Malik.
A fresh probe had uncovered the role of nine men, including the brigadier in whose residence the plot was hatched, 'The Express Tribune' newspaper reported today quoting unnamed sources.
The findings of the investigation, conducted under the Interior Ministry's supervision, were deliberately kept under wraps, even from the ruling PPP's top leaders, it claimed.
The probe's findings are in the possession of Interior Minister Malik and had been seen only by President Asif Ali Zardari in its ntirety, the report said.
It did not say whether the brigadier purportedly identified by the probe was a serving or a former army officer. However, the Interior Minister dismissed the report.
"It is a totally concocted story, a false story. No conspiracy was hatched in any brigadier's home," Malik told reporters in Karachi.
He said all the reports he had received so far on the assassination did not show the involvement of a brigadier.
The conspiracy to assassinate Bhutto was hatched in militant hideouts and not in the home of any brigadier, Malik said.
The Express Tribune reported that Zardari had "temporarily shelved plans" to share the contents of the inquiry report earlier this week. Zardari was keen to "first take the army leadership into confidence before ordering the arrest of certain uniformed personnel over their alleged involvement" in the assassination, the report said.
Five of the nine conspirators are alive while the other four, including those sent to kill Bhutto, are dead, according to the inquiry report.
A fresh probe had uncovered the role of nine men, including the brigadier in whose residence the plot was hatched, 'The Express Tribune' newspaper reported today quoting unnamed sources.
The findings of the investigation, conducted under the Interior Ministry's supervision, were deliberately kept under wraps, even from the ruling PPP's top leaders, it claimed.
It did not say whether the brigadier purportedly identified by the probe was a serving or a former army officer. However, the Interior Minister dismissed the report.
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He said all the reports he had received so far on the assassination did not show the involvement of a brigadier.
The conspiracy to assassinate Bhutto was hatched in militant hideouts and not in the home of any brigadier, Malik said.
The Express Tribune reported that Zardari had "temporarily shelved plans" to share the contents of the inquiry report earlier this week. Zardari was keen to "first take the army leadership into confidence before ordering the arrest of certain uniformed personnel over their alleged involvement" in the assassination, the report said.
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