RAWALPINDI: Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi bench on Thursday summoned the City Police Officer (CPO) as Saddar Baironi SHO failed to execute the non-bailable arrest warrants for a ‘missing suspect’ in Benazir Bhutto murder case.

The suspect Rafaqat Hussain was acquitted by the Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) of Rawalpindi.

He was, however, booked in another case and then went missing.

LHC Justice Mirza Viqas Rauf and Justice Chaudhry Abdul Aziz resumed hearing on the appeals against the conviction of police officers and one filed by Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) against the acquittal of five suspects.

The bench inquired about the compliance report of the order issued on May 19, 2022 for execution of arrest warrants for Hussain.

The court was told that Hussain went missing and the matter has been pending before the commission of inquiry on enforced disappearances.

However, the commission has not yet declared Hussain as missing person.

The accused father during an earlier hearing had filed a petition with the LHC bench against the disappearance of his son from the prison.

The matter is pending before the court.

An ATC had acquitted Hussain in August 2017, however, he was kept in detention.

The court acquitted five accused for lack of evidence and branded former military ruler Pervez Musharraf a fugitive.

ATC Judge Mohammad Asghar Khan found two police officers guilty of ‘mishandling the crime scene’, making them the only people to have been convicted over the assassination of Benazir in a gun and suicide attack in Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2023