RAWALPINDI: Five alleged members of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) — who have been acquitted by an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in the murder case of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto — will be kept under detention for 30 more days in Adiala jail on the request of the Punjab police’s counterterrorism department.

The Rawalpindi DCO (district coordination officer) issued their detention orders late on Thursday night.

The five men — Rafaqat Hussain, Husnain Gul, Sher Zaman, Aitzaz Shah and Abdul Rashid — were acquitted by the ATC citing lack of evidence against them.

Former prime minister and chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party Benazir Bhutto was killed in a gun-and-bomb attack outside Rawalpindi’s Liaquat Bagh on Dec 27, 2007.

The then government of retired Gen Pervez Musharraf had blamed TTP chief Baitullah Mehsud for the assassination of Ms Bhutto.

But Mehsud — who was killed in a US drone attack in 2009 — denied his involvement in the murder.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2017