UN to probe Musharraf on unanswered questions on death of Benazir

New York, Sep.19 (ANI): United Nations investigators are preparing to question former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf about the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, amid mounting doubts over official versions of how she died and claims of a cover-up.

The Weekend Australian Magazine revealed Saturday evidence that a bullet - probably sniper fire from a high-velocity rifle - killed the former Pakistan prime minister.

The Musharraf regime said a "bump on the head" resulting from a Taliban or al-Qa'ida suicide bomber killed Bhutto on December 27, 2007, shortly before an election she was expected to win.

This evidence contradicts the regime's claim that the murder was the work of the Pakistan Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, who was killed in a US unmanned drone attack.

There is no history of the militants using sniper fire - or even regular gunfire - in any of the hundreds of suicide attacks they have mounted in Pakistan.

Also revealed in The Weekend Australian Magazine is detail of the cover-up that followed Bhutto's murder.

The crime scene in Liaquat Bagh, a park in Rawalpindi, was washed with high-pressure hoses within 45 minutes of the blast, destroying almost all forensic evidence.

Naheed Khan, Bhutto's political secretary for 23 years, who cradled her head as she died, told The Weekend Australian Magazine: "There were bullets coming from different directions. There are lots of high buildings overlooking the area. This was a typical intelligence (agency) operation."

Khan's husband, Senator Safdar Abbasi, who is also a doctor, was in the Toyota Landcruiser when Bhutto was attacked.

"The way she died - her instant death - suggests very sharp sniper fire. A typical intelligence (agency) operation," Abbasi said.

There is no suggestion of any involvement by Musharraf in her murder. But the UN investigators want to question the former general. Given the authority he wielded in Pakistan, including over the army and its agencies, Musharraf, 66, is thought to be in a better position than most to cast light on events surrounding the assassination. (ANI)