Musharraf sent questionnaire over security lapse in Benazir Bhutto’s assassination

ISLAMABAD - As part of the investigation into former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, Pakistan’s Interior Ministry has sent a questionnaire to former president Pervez Musharraf to record his statement.

“We have sent the questionnaire to General (retd) Musharraf and are waiting for his reply,” the Dawn quoted Special Public Prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali, who is representing Federal Investigation Agency’s joint investigation team, as saying.

The joint investigation team had prepared a 32-point questionnaire for Musharraf, the paper said.

Interior ministry sources revealed that the document contained questions relating to the security lapse, and asked the former president why he did not provide adequate security to Bhutto, even though she had expressed fears over threats to her life.

However, political observers are of the opinion that it would not by easy to include the former military ruler in the investigation because of his background.

A few months ago, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had formed a three-member committee, headed by Cabinet Secretary Chaudhry Abdul Rauf, which excluded from inquiry some top military officials, who had allegedly ordered the hosing down of the assassination site. The inquiry report, however, has not been made public so far.

Meanwhile, Musharraf’s spokesman Fawad Chaudhry said that the former president had nothing to do with the security of Bhutto.

He termed the government’s move to send the questionnaire to Musharraf an attempt to politicise the case and damage him politically. (ANI)