Scotland Yard team joins Bhutto's death probe in Pakistan

Islamabad, Jan 4 (UNI) A five-member Scotland yard team arrived in Pakistan today to provide assistance in the investigation of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's assassination, two days after President Pervez Musharraf requested Britain to help in the probe.

The small team from the Metropolitan Police's Counter-Terrorism Command would meet officials from Interior Ministry to discuss modalities of the probe and be briefed on the investigation conducted so far, official sources said.

They would also visit and examine the scene of the crime at Liaqat Bagh.

The team might also seek an autopsy of Bhutto's body, for which permission would be sought from Asif Ali Zardari.

Mr Zardari had yesterday rejected the involvement of British team and had reiterated the demand for a UN-sponsored commission to investigate the incident.

Bhutto was assassinated in a gun and suicide bomb attack in Rawalpindi on December 27.

Critics, however, believe Scotland Yard would be able to do little, as all evidence was hosed off from the scene of the assassination within hours of the attack.

Notably, previous international investigations of crimes in Pakistan have been hampered by a lack of access to evidence and information.

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