Murtaza murder report presented

KARACHI, June 1: A three-member judicial tribunal inquiring into last year’s assassination of Murtaza Bhutto, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s brother, submitted its report yesterday.

The tribunal, set up under a Supreme Court judge, Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid on October 18, 1996, to investigate the September 20 death of Murtaza and seven of his companions, gave its report to advocate-general of Sindh province, Raja Qureshi, who said he would present the report to Chief Minister Liaquat Jatoi for further action.

Justice Zahid later said the tribunal had recommended that its report be published. The inquiry was ordered after police accused Benazir’s husband Asif Ali Zardari, former Sindh chief minister Abdullah Shah, former Intelligence Bureau chief Masood Sharif and 19 police officers of complicity in the murder. In her testimony, Benazir said that her brother’s murder was part of a long-term plot to unseat her government.