ISLAMABAD: The testimony of the US lobbyist, Mark Seigel, the star witness against fromer president retired General Pervez Musharraf in the Benazir Bhutto murder case, has been delayed until October.

Mr Seigel was scheduled to testify before the Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) of Rawalpindi on Wednesday and the Rawalpindi adminisration had finalised the arrangements for video conferencing at the commissioner office.

However, an email from the Pakistan embassy in Washington informed the district administration on Tuesday that Mr Seigel was unable to testify before the ATC on Wednesday, the district coordination officer (DCO), Rawalpindi, Sajid Zafar Dall told Dawn.

He said the email said Mr Seigel was undergoing a surgery and was not available on August 26.

The DCO Dall, however, said as per the email sent by the embassy, Mr Seigel would appear before the court sometime after October 1.

According to a senior prosecutor, the Pakistan embassy in Washington had made all the arrangements for recording the statement of Mr Seigel declaring the embassy’s premises an extension of the ATC, Rawalpindi. The DCO said the district administration had conveyed the information (the delay) to the ATC Judge Rai Mohammad Ayub Marth who was supposed to record the statement of Mr Seigel.

ATC has so far recorded the statements of former interior secretary Kamal Shah and former director general National Crisis Management Cell (NCMC). While the name of former director general Intelligence Bureau Ejaz Shah, another witness, has been withdrawn by the prosecution.

As per prosecution, Mr Siegel claimed that on September 25, 2007, in his presence at the office of Congressman Tom Lantos in Washington, Ms Bhutto received a telephone call from Musharraf which she later described a very ‘bad call’.

The statement said the former military ruler had warned Ms Bhutto that “her safety depends on the state of their (Musharraf and Benazir’s) relationship”.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2015

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