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Detective leading Pak blasts
probe quits
WSN Network
Karachi: The senior detective leading the probe into the suicide
attack on Benazir Bhutto has withdrawn from the case after the
opposition leader accused him of involvement in the alleged torture
of her husband, a senior official said. “The investigation team will
be formed anew after Manzur Mughal disassociated himself from the
investigation in view of the objections raised by Benazir Bhutto on
the chief investigator’s credentials,” said Ghulam Muhammad Mohtarem,
the home secretary of Sindh province, of which Karachi is the
capital.
Last Thursday, two suicide bombers attacked a truck carrying the
former prime minister through a sea of more than 150,000 supporters
in Karachi who had welcomed her back from more than eight years in
exile.
The government has promised a thorough investigation of the attack,
which killed at least 150 people and has raised doubts about
Pakistan’s stability as it heads towards crucial elections. However,
The News reported on Wednesday that Bhutto, in a letter addressed to
President Pervez Musharraf, has named Punjab chief minister Chaudhry
Pervaiz Elahi, intelligence bureau director general Ejaz Shah,
former director of the National Accountability Bureau Waseem Afzal
and former ISI chief Gen (Rtd) Hameed Gul as the conspirators.
Soon after the attempt on her life, Bhutto had accused elements in
the government and security services of complicity in the explosions
and called for international experts to join the investigation. She
specifically objected to Mughal, claiming he had been present while
her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, was allegedly tortured while in
custody on corruption charges in 1999.
Mohtarem said the provincial government had no doubt about Mughal’s
competency and professionalism, but that he had decided to withdraw
from the five-member investigation team to protect it from
accusations of bias.
Meanwhile, Pakistan deployed more than 2,000 troops to a troubled
northwestern district to bolster efforts to stem rising violence
linked to pro-Taliban militants. Paramilitary troops erected
barricades and check posts in the scenic Swat valley, where a
pro-Taliban militant group has been blamed for a series of recent
bloody attacks on police and government leaders, the official said.
31 October, 2007
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