Pakistan court issues NBA warrant against Bhutto's driver

ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani anti-terrorism court hearing the 2007 assassination case of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto today issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against her driver, who has failed to turn up for the hearings despite repeated summons.

Javaid ur Rehman drove the vehicle carrying 54-year-old Bhutto out of a park in Rawalpindi after she addressed an election rally when a bomb and gun attack killed her.

The driver, who escaped the attack, has not made any appearance in the court till date despite many summons.

The special anti-terrorism court issued non-bailable arrest warrants against Rehman, and also summoned four other witnesses to record their statement in the next hearing, The Express Tribune reported.

Meanwhile former political agent of Mohmand tribal region, Bhalol Khan, against whom the court had ordered arrest warrants owing to his non-appearance, appeared and recorded his statement.

He said that one accused attackers, Abdullah alias Saddam, was his younger brother and a student of Darul Uloom Haqqania, Akora Khattak.

Khan said his brother was an absconder in the case and was later killed in an encounter with law-enforcement agencies in Dera IsmaiI Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

During the hearing, a director from the US embassy, Shakib Rafique, informed the court that the embassy has written to US journalist Mark Siegel asking him whether he wants to come to Pakistan to record his statement or do it via video link.

Rafique said they would keep the court updated on Siegel's reply. Siegel is considered a key witness in the case owing to his close association with Bhutto.