Bhutto case: Pak SC orders to paste notice at Mush's residence

Islamabad, Mar 5: Pakistan's Supreme Court on Monday directed authorities to paste a notice at the residence of former President Pervez Musharraf seeking his response to a petition for registering a second FIR regarding the assassination of ex-premier Benazir Bhutto.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry issued the order during the hearing of a petition by Bhutto's former protocol officer Aslam Chaudhry, who wants a second FIR to be registered against Musharraf and 12 others.

The bench said a notice seeking Musharraf's reply should be pasted outside his residence in Islamabad. The former military ruler, currently living in self-exile in London and Dubai, has not responded to a notice issued last month by the apex court.

However, the prosecutor general of Punjab province said in a reply submitted on behalf of police officials in Rawalpindi that a second FIR could not be registered in the presence of the first FIR.

The challan or charge-sheet related to the first FIR too has been presented in anti-terrorism court conducting the trial of seven suspects charged with involvement in the assassination, the prosecutor general said.

The court was told by prosecutors that the respondents, including Musharraf, Interior Minister Rehman Malik and former Law Minister Babar Awan, had not submitted their replies despite the court's orders.

The court ordered officials to send a fresh notice to Awan through the Attorney General. The court further issued directions for notices to be sent to police officials Saud Aziz and Khurram Shahzad through the Punjab police chief.

PTI