On August 30, the Balochistan High Court upheld the verdict of the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) absolving former president Pervez Musharraf, former interior minister Aftab Sherpao and ex-Balochistan home minister Shoaib Nausherwani of all charges in the Nawab Akbar Bugti murder case. All of the accused have been acquitted.
An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Quetta on January 2016, had acquitted Pervez Musharraf, former provincial home minister Mir Shoaib Nosherwani and Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) chief and member of National Assembly Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao.
Nawab Akbar Bugti, chief of the Bugti tribe, was killed in a massive military action on August 26, 2006 in the Marri-Bugti hills in eastern Balochistan.
An FIR was registered under sections 302 and 304 of the Pakistan Penal Code against Musharraf and others in 2009 for their alleged involvement in Bugti’s murder.
Former president Pervez Musharraf never appeared in the court during the entire legal process which had been in progress since 2009 and was indicted in the case in January 2015. He had been staying with his daughter in Karachi where he travelled for tests at a navy-run hospital in April last year and the indictment took place in his absence.
Bugti’s son, Nawabzada Jamil Akbar Bugti, however, filed cases in the courts of law and finally succeeded in registering the murder case against former president Pervez Musharraf and others. Since it was considered a novel case, it was tried in Anti-terrorism Court (ATC) and the accused resisted and refused to appear before the court during the trial.
In absence of credible evidence, the ATC absolved former President General Pervez Musharraf and others of the murder charge.
Nawabzada Jamil Akbar Bugti filed an appeal to the Balochistan High Court against the verdict of the ATC.
Musharraf’s role in genocide
In December 2005, only months before the military operation that would be carried out against Bugti, Musharraf had said:
“... there are two or three tribal chiefs and feudal lords behind what’s going on in Balochistan. The past governments have made deals with them and indulged them. My government is determined to establish its writ. It will be a fight to the finish.”
Following Musharraf’s comments, Baloch nationals entered into talks regarding a parliamentary committee in December 2005. This development had come after months of failed attempts of the armed forces to capture Bugti in his town of Dera Bugti.
The army bombings of Dera Bugti resulted in indiscriminate killing, and displacement of close to 1,60,000 people in the region, according to Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre’s 2006 report. The siege forced Bugti and his supporters to shift bases to Bhamboor hills where they would eventually meet their end. Dawn reported that the operation to capture Bugti went on for three days before it achieved its goal.
This verdict meant a great relief to Musharraf. On August 25, another anti terrorism court declared him as absconder and proclaimed offender in Benazir murder case.