Nuzhat Nazar

ISLAMABAD: Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Interior Rehman Malik has asked the Interior Ministry to bring the assassins of slain Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto back to the country with the help of Interpol.

Senator Malik has written a letter to the interior minister in which he demanded the interior

minister to make a request to President of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani to deport Ikramullah, the surviving suicide bomber, and the writer Abu Mansoor Asim Mufti Noor Wali who are sheltering in Afghanistan. He said that their interrogation will further unearth the facts of the conspiracy behind assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

He also demanded the interior minister to make a request to Interpol to issue Red Notices against Ikramullah and Abu Mansoor Asim Mufti Noor Wali enabling Pakistan to request for the deportation of these two TTP leaders.

Senator Rehman Malik said that a book has been written by Abu Mansoor Asim Mufti Noor Wali, reportedly a senior leader of Taliban, in which he has claimed the responsibility for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. He said that it is for the first time that Taliban officially on record have confessed the murder of Benazir Bhutto. "As the book has made leading claims; therefore, it is necessary that investigation into Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto's case should be revisited," he stressed.

PPP senior leader, Senator Malik, said that the earlier investigation conducted by a JIT headed by a senior officer of FIA also concluded that the Taliban/TTP and al Qaeda had carried out the assassination of Bhutto and TTP chief Baitullah Mehsud and his associates had hatched the conspiracy in Miranshah, North Waziristan Agency.

He said that according to the earlier investigations done by FIA, two suicide bombers provided by Baitullah Mehsud were identified as Bilal aka Saeed who blew himself at Liaquat Bagh resulting in martyrdom of Bhutto while Ikramullah, the second suicide bomber escaped from the scene and his current whereabouts have recently been reported in Afghanistan. He is presently in the area of Paktia, which falls under the control of Afghanistan, he revealed.

He said that about the first attempt on Bhutto at Karachi known as Karsaz incident, the writer has claimed that prior to return of Benazir Bhutto for elections of 2008, Baitullah Mehsud had already planned action against her as she was coming back to carry out plans against 'Mujahideen-e-Islam' as per desire of America. He further claimed that "In order to frustrate the American plan, two suicide bombers namely Mohsin Mehsud and Rehmatullah Mehsud carried out suicide attacks on Benazir Bhutto at Karsaz, Karachi, in October 2007, which resulted in killing of approximately 200 people but Benazir Bhutto escaped the attack. The reason for the unsuccessful attack was the deviation of the instructions by the suicide bombers. The suicide bombers abandoned their place of position, which was near the stage, and carried out their attacks in hurry. Both the suicide bombers were associated with the training camp of Maulvi Azmatullah. Planned attack on Benazir Bhutto at Larkana could not be carried out due to a tip off to police by a so-called Taliban Mujahid, Mehraj Kaikhel."

In his letter, Senator Malik has referred to the claims made by the writer in the said book in which he claimed that "Benazir Bhutto was killed in a suicide attack in Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007, carried out by TTP. Two suicide bombers Bilal aka Saeed and Ikramullah were tasked to carry out the attack on Benazir Bhutto on December 27, 2007. The first suicide bomber Bilal aka Saeed, hailing from Badar, first fired at Benazir Bhutto from his pistol and the bullet hit her neck. Then he detonated his explosive jacket and blew himself up in the middle of the participants of the procession. The second suicide bomber Ikramullah, a resident of Makeen town in South Waziristan, escaped from the blast site and is still alive. According to Maulvi Imran, who was interviewed by the author of the book, he [Maulvi Imran] was assisted by Ahmed, Qari Ismail and Mullah Ehsan in the assassination attempt on Benazir Bhutto. Since Commander Nasrullah alias Ahmed, resident of Said Ghai Barmal Rabot, had come under the spotlight of the secret agencies after his participation in the assassination attack on Benazir Bhutto, he shifted to Mohmand Agency from Peshawar.

Although Benazir Bhutto had escaped assassination attempt at Karachi yet the government did not provide her adequate security due to which the suicide bombers 'Fadayeen' managed to reach her close proximity. After blast at Rawalpindi, the whole evidence was destroyed to frustrate the investigation."

Malik who is heading Senate Standing Committee on Interior has written that the above claims have been made by the author Abu Mansoor Asim Mufti Noor Wali and here are the comments that have been made based on the investigation of FIA JIT, which is part of the court trial.

Malik wrote that the FIA investigation had earlier identified Ikramullah as second suicide bomber who had fled the scene after the attack by Bilal aka Saeed and in the investigation, he was declared proclaimed offender by the trial court and it may be mentioned here that one of the arrested accused persons namely Rashid Turabi in his confessional statement had stated that Qari Ismail aka Nadir, along with Nasrullah aka Ahmed had stayed at his hostel room Madrassa Munba-ul-Aloom, Miran Shah, on his way to Baitullah Mehsud to collect suicide bomber and on their way back along with the suicide bomber Saeed aka Bilal, who was tasked to carry out suicide attack on Benazir Bhutto. And Qari Ismail had taken the suicide bomber to Akora Khattak where he was handed over to Nasrullah to take him along with another suicide bomber Ikramullah to Rawalpindi. Qari Ismail aka Nadir Khan was, consequently, declared proclaimed offender by the trial court, he added.

Malik wrote that according to the conclusion of the investigation of FIA, Nasrullah aka Ahmed was the handler of the suicide bombers who had stayed overnight along with the suicide bombers at the house of Rafaqat Hussain, an arrested accused, and he was present at Liaquat Bagh, Rawalpindi, at the time of assassination attack on Benazir Bhutto. He also said that his presence at the house of accused Rafaqat Hussain and at the crime scene was proven through geo-fencing and forensic evidence and Nasrullah was also declared proclaimed offender by the trial court.

Malik wrote that this was also the conclusion of JIT that the government of General Musharraf (retd) did not provide adequate security despite knowing the level of threat and according to Taliban, they had identified the lack of provision of security to Bhutto during her public addresses, of which they took advantage to penetrate the gathering and reach the close proximity of Bhutto.

Malik said that the book authored by Abu Mansoor Asim Mufti Noor Wali, who is a senior leader in the TTP group based in Afghanistan, has corroborated the facts of the investigation carried out by the JIT of FIA such as Baitullah Mehsud had directed the assassination of Bhutto; the conspiracy/planning for the assassination attack on 27th December 2007 was made at a hostel room of Madrassa Haqqania; Bilal aka Saeed and Ikramullah, had been identified as suicide bombers; Nasrullah aka Ahmed, was identified as handler of the suicide bombers of Rawalpindi attack and identification of Qari Ismail aka Nadir Khan, who brought suicide bomber Bilal aka Saeed from Baitullah Mehsud to Madrassa Haqqania.

He said that the investigation by the JIT of FIA had further established that it was Madrassa Haqqania from where Nasrullah aka Ahmed had taken two suicide bombers namely Bilal aka Saeed and Ikramullah to Rawalpindi on the intervening night of December 26-27, 2007 where they were received by Hussain Gul and Rafaqat Hussain under the instructions of one Ibad-ur-Rehman - another proclaimed offender who was later killed as a result of a drone attack at Khyber Agency, when FIA had started hunting the accused. The revelations in the book, therefore, indicate that the material/ evidence submitted in the trial court in the form of a challan was authentic, duly substantiated with the evidence against all the accused persons, whether arrested or proclaimed offenders, said Malik.

He said that the trial took nine years, eight months and three days and despite irrefutable evidence, it acquitted five main accused namely Hasnain Gul, Rafaqat Hussain, Abdul Rashid Turabi, Sher Zaman and Aitzaz Shah. He said as it has been confirmed from reliable sources that Ikramullah is present in Paktia province of Afghanistan and is, therefore, very important accused who is alive and can reveal certain more information regarding martyrdom of Bhutto.

In his letter, Senator Malik demanded that the surviving suicide bombers and proclaimed offender namely Ikramullah and the TTP leader and author of this book namely Abu Mansoor Asim Mufti Noor Wali, are required to be investigated by Pakistani authorities/agencies on urgent basis for further investigation. He writes, "I demand the federal government to have these new disclosures verified and get Ikramullah and author Abu Mansoor deported from Afghanistan to Pakistan for investigation, collect more information from them and take further legal action."

In his letter he has also asked the Sindh Chief Minister that the investigation into Karsaz incident may be revisited in the light of new claims in the said book about the two alleged suicide bombers namely Mohsin Mehsud and Rehmatullah Mehsud who had carried out suicide attacks on Bhutto at Karsaz, Karachi, in October 2007.