Ex-Pakistani president Musharraf acquitted in murder case

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Quetta on Monday acquitted former military dictator Pervez Musharraf in a case related to the murder of Nawab Akbar Bugti.

“We aren’t satisfied with the judgment and will challenge it in court”, Sohail Rajput, the lawyer for Bugti’s family, told reporters outside the court.

Mr Bugti, a Baloch nationalist leader who had led an armed campaign for provincial autonomy, was killed in a cave in August 2006 during a military crackdown ordered by then General Musharraf, who was also army chief.

The anti-terror court rejected the request by Jamil Akbar Bugti, eldest son of the late Nawab Akbar Bugti, to order exhumation of the body of his father to confirm that the body buried in Dera Bugti was that of his father.

“Yes, Nawab Bugti has been killed in the operation”, former federal minister for information Mohammad Ali Durrani said.

Balochistan nationalists have accused Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province, of exploiting their natural resources.

Bugti’s son, Jamil Bugti, accused the former military ruler of murder.

Gen Musharraf has been under house arrest in Karachi while the cases have ground through Pakistan’s notoriously slow legal system, moving from adjournment to adjournment with little clear progress apart from the granting of bail.

Musharraf, who ruled Pakistan from 1999 to 2008, is also a defendant in a number of other high-profile cases, including the murder of Islamabad’s Red Mosque imam Ghazi Abdul Rahseed and his wife. Other cases against him include judges detention and treason case.