Pervez Musharraf to be questioned by Pakistan investigators on Benazir Bhutto assassination case

Islamabad/Lahore: Pakistani investigators will grill former military ruler Pervez Musharraf about a "threatening" phone call and email to Benazir Bhutto after an anti-terrorism court today ordered his inclusion in the probe into the ex-premier's assassination in 2007.

Judge Chaudhry Habib-ur-Rehman of the Rawalpindi-based anti-terrorism court today accepted a request from prosecutors to question General Musharraf and to include him in the investigation into the 2007 assassination.

Special prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) told PTI that a joint investigation team will question General Musharraf on two issues - making a threatening phone call to Bhutto and sending an email that warned her not to return to Pakistan, and failing to provide adequate security to Bhutto after she came back from self-exile in 2007.

General Musharraf's failure to provide adequate security to Mrs Bhutto "indirectly facilitated and helped terrorists in executing their plan to murder" her, Mr Ali said.

General Musharraf will also be quizzed on why he did not respond to five letters from Mrs Bhutto seeking foolproof security ahead of her return to Pakistan.

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"General Musharraf provided foolproof security to other leaders like (then) Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz but ignored Benazir," he said.

Mr Ali, who is part of the joint investigation team, said Musharraf will be questioned at his farmhouse on the outskirts of Islamabad, which has been declared a 'sub-jail'.

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He said: "We had requested the anti-terrorism court to let General Musharraf stay in (the farmhouse) because of security issues and the court accepted our plea."

The joint investigation team is expected to complete questioning General Musharraf by May 3.

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