ISLAMABAD / RAWALPINDI, Nov 15 Almost 35 months after the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, the PPP-led government submitted a challan to an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi on Monday. Surprisingly, the challan admitted the version of investigations carried out during the Musharraf government.

The joint investigation team (JIT) of FIA, which prepared the 48-page challan, also gave a clean-chit to former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf and functionaries of the then federal and provincial governments.

It held the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan responsible for the assassination.

“JIT has so far not come across any evidence regarding abetting and facilitating the Dec 27, 2007, attack on Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto at Liaquat Bagh, Rawalpindi, by any functionary of provincial or federal government. Despite efforts the JIT has so far not been able to examine Gen (red) Pervez Musharraf in this regard,” said contents of the report on page 44. A copy was seen by Dawn.

Senior officials in the interior ministry reveal that Khalid Qureshi, the head of JIT and chief of the FIA's Special Investigation Group (SIG), tried to contact Gen Musharraf, but Interior Minister Rehman Malik stopped him by saying that the general had “some kind of deal” with the present government.

The report has not mentioned any interview with any serving army officer, including army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Lt-Gen Nadeem Taj, the then ISI director general who is currently serving in the GHQ, and Maj-Gen Nadeem Ejaz Mian, the then Military Intelligence director general.

JIT sources said the military 'high-ups' did not allow to the team to get their statements.

The report said that although the Punjab government was aware of serious threats to Ms Bhutto's life and kept her under detention and banned her rallies, it failed on the fateful day to provide her foolproof security.

The investigators said that they could not find any help from the investigation being carried out into the attack on Benazir Bhutto's procession in Karachi's Karsaz area on Oct 18, 2007.

ACCUSED The report accused Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan chief Baitullah Mehsud and Ibadur Rehman, Abdullah and Faiz Muhammad (ex-students of Madrassa Akora Khattak, Nowshera), Ikramullah (the suicide bomber), Aitzaz Shah, Sher Zaman, Hasnain Gul, Muhammad Rafaqat, Rasheed Ahmed, Nasrullah and Nadir of helping and financing the attack.

Syed Saud Aziz, former Rawalpindi police chief, and Khurran Shahzad, former Rawal Town SP, have been charged with criminal negligence of duty and hosing down the crime scene.

WITNESSES The JIT report contains the names of 124 people as prosecution witnesses. They include Khalid Qureshi, the head of JIT; Sohail Habib Tajik, additional director of FIA; Javed Iqbal Lodhi, Director General of the National Crisis Management Cell; Major (retd) Imtiaz Hussain, former SSP security officer of Benazir Bhutto; Javedur Rehman, the driver of Ms Bhutto, Muhammad Ismail, ISI operator in Islamabad; Ashfaq Anwar, Rawal Town SP; Dr Moeen Masood, SSP traffic Islamabad; Javed Iqbal, SP Railways in Rawalpindi; Professor Dr Muhammad Mussadiq, of Rawalpindi Medical College; Dr Samara Iqbal, Medical Officer of Benazir Bhutto Hospital; and Dr Hina of Holy Family Hospital.

BAITULLAH'S TAPE The video tape of Baitullah Mehsud in which he had indirectly admitted responsibility for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto has been verified as correct by the JIT.

The tape was presented before the media by Brigadier (retd) Javed Iqbal Cheema, a former director general of the National Crisis Management Cell, on Dec 28, 2007. The tape has been testified as correct by Muhammad Ismail, the only prosecution witness produced by the Inter-Services Intelligence.

FOREIGN EVIDENCE The investigators said they had contacted the UN Commission on the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, but it did not provide any evidence.

“The JIT sought additional evidence from the United Nations because its commission pointed out at a number of other aspects of the case. However, the ministry of foreign affairs on July 22, in writing, conveyed to the JIT that no such evidence is coming,” said the report, filed under section 173 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

They said they had also contacted the Afghan government which had reportedly conveyed to Benazir about threat to her life. The Afghan foreign ministry said it had no record which suggested that President Hamid Karzai had informed Benazir about a possible threat to her life.

However, the report said that the UAE government had informed Benazir Bhutto and the ISI about the threat to her life.

ATC-III Special Judge Rana Nisar Ahmed put off the hearing of the case till Nov 23, when an application filed by the prosecution seeking summoning of Saud Aziz and Khurran Shahzad will be decided.