Lal Masjid case: New team for probe against Musharraf

Islamabad, Sep 14: Pakistani police have formed a new team of investigators to probe former

Pervez Musharraf's alleged involvement in the killing of

cleric Abdur Rashid Ghazi, according to a media report today.

The new team was formed on the orders of the Islamabad Police chief, though at least four of its members were suggested by the complainant. Haroonur Rashid Ghazi, the complainant in the case and the son of the dead Lal Masjid cleric, had objected to the existing investigation team.

"The first team...included police officials who were retired army officers and could be sympathetic to Musharraf,” Ehtisham Ahmed, spokesman for the Ghazi and Shohuda Foundation Lal Masjid, was quoted as saying by The Express Tribune.

Ghazi, through his counsel Tariq Asad, expressed his concern about the existing ream by writing a letter to the Islamabad Police chief a week ago. Later, Asad met the police chief and asked him to change the team.

No headway could be made in the case that was registered on the orders of the Islamabad High Court last month. Haroonur Rashid Ghazi has accused Musharraf of murdering his father as he had ordered the military operation in 2007 in which Ghazi was killed with others. Army commandos stormed the radical Lal Masjid in the heart of Islamabad after a prolonged standoff with armed extremists who were holed up inside. Ghazi had spearheaded a violent campaign to enforce Shariah or Islamic law.

PTI