KARACHI: Nine years after the twin suicide attacks on the homecoming rally of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, the Pakistan Peoples Party-led Sindh government constituted a five-member team on Tuesday to re-investigate the Oct 18, 2007 Karsaz incident that claimed the lives of around 200 people.

The new probe body has been asked to take “all measures and arrest the accused” to solve the case for which the PPP had blamed then Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, retired Lt Gen Hameed Gul and retired Brigadier Ejaz Hussain Shah.

On Tuesday, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah visited the Karsaz monument to pay homage to those killed in the twin blasts.

Blaming the then provincial and security administration for deliberately spoiling the case, he told reporters there that his government was determined to bring to justice all forces involved in the carnage.

“As we all know, it was the most tragic incident of the country’s history,” he said. “But despite the bloodshed and the intensity of the incident, all evidence and proofs were removed from the crime scene within a few hours. The case was never pursued and the brutal attack remained unsolved. So, we have decided to investigate the case for justice to the victims and their families.”

Following his announcement, the Sindh police, through a notification, tasked a senior police officer to reinvestigate the case and come up with a final report. However, no time frame was given by the police authorities to complete the investigation.

“With the approval of the competent authority [Sindh chief minister] a committee of the following officers is constituted to investigate the case of Karsaz attack on Benazir Bhutto convoy on 19-10-2007 at Karachi,” said the notification.

The head of the Counter Terrorism Department, Additional Inspector General Sanaullah Abbassi, has been appointed as the chief of the investigation committee with SSP-Intelligence Omar Shahid, Special Investigation Unit SSP Farooq Awan, Inspector Sajjad Ali and Inspector Sajjad Awan as its members.

The former prime minister had landed at Karachi airport on Oct 18, 2007 where she was received by a large number of party workers and supporters. When the procession reached the Karsaz area at night, it came under twin bomb attacks.

At that time, the Sindh government, led by then chief minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, had set up an inquiry tribunal to investigate the twin blasts. The tribunal, headed by retired justice Dr Ghous Mohammad, started its proceedings and recorded the statements of around 40 witnesses. However, the PPP boycotted the tribunal and refused to recognise it and filed a petition in the Sindh High Court against it.

The PPP had also moved the court for the registration of a second FIR and in November 2007 a sessions court asked the police to lodge another FIR. But, the then provincial government challenged the order in the high court. Later, the PPP formed government in Sindh after the 2008 general elections and withdrew the state’s appeal against the sessions court’s order. Thus, the second FIR was lodged in which Pervaiz Elahi, Lt Gen Gul and Brig Ejaz Shah were named as suspects since Ms Bhutto had blamed them.

“We have held the first meeting of the committee,” CTD chief Abbassi told Dawn. “We have appointed a DSP-rank officer as the investigation officer of the case. There would be no new FIR as the team tasked with the job will look into all aspects for new pieces of evidence and facts to trace the suspects that include the mastermind, their handlers and executors of the attack.”

Published in Dawn October 19th, 2016