UK team demands BB's post-mortem, PPP says no

Islamabad, Jan 11 : The Scotland Yard investigation team probing into Benazir Bhutto's assassination has said that a post-mortem should be carried out on the slain ex-premier's body, without which they would not be able to reach any conclusion.

The team said that it was facing difficulties in carrying out the probe in the absence of any post-mortem report.

"Two things are very important in the investigations namely the post-mortem and forensic evidence collected from the crime site. However, in this case the post-mortem of Benazir Bhutto was not carried out on the request of her spouse Asif Ali Zardari, whereas the site of the blast was also washed down soon after the blast. Therefore, the team is facing grave difficulties in investigation," The Nation quoted sources as saying.

According to the report, despite all the difficulties, the UK team has collected some forensic evidences, reconstructed the crime scene, recorded witnesses statements and the medical team of Rawalpindi General Hospital, who received Benazir Bhutto to save her life after the attack.

Sources said that the UK team also took up the post-mortem issue with President Pervez Musharraf during a meeting on Tuesday and received his assurances of full support.

On the other hand, the PPP once again ruled out the possibility of allowing post-mortem on Benazir's body. It said that the purpose of the probe was to find out facts like the motive behind the assassination, the conspiracy, the preparation to carry out the mission, abutment in the crime, execution of the mission, shelter to the culprits after the execution of the mission and destruction of the evidences to protect the offenders.

PPP senior leader and Senator Babar Awan said that the Government invited Scotland Yard team only to investigate the cause of death of Benazir Bhutto, which, according to him, was "unfair on its part".

"We would never allow to dig the grave of Benazir Bhutto and carry out the Post-mortem," said Babar Awan.

He added: "There are two kinds of post-mortems, external and internal. When a victim is poisoned to death, the internal post-mortem is carried out. But in case someone is shot dead, then post-mortem is carried out as she was assassinated the way the J F Kennedy was killed while waving hands to her supporters, therefore, no internal post-mortem is required."

ANI