ISLAMABAD: The Fede­ral Investigation Agency (FIA) has challenged in the Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court the verdict of an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) which acquitted five suspects of the banned Tehreek-i-Tali­ban Pakistan (TTP) in the Benazir Bhutto murder case.

In the Aug 31 verdict, ATC Judge Asghar Ali Khan had convicted two former senior police officers and separated the trial of former dictator retired Gen Pervez Musharraf.

The police officers — retired AIG Saud Aziz and SSP Khurram Shehzad — had been sentenced to 17 years in prison for negligence and security lapses that led to the assassination of the Pakistan Peoples Party chairperson in 2007.

Aziz and Shehzad have already filed appeals against their conviction.

PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari has also challenged the ATC verdict.

The FIA contended that the ATC had discarded strong evidence and even ignored confessional statements of the accused. However, it admitted minor discrepancies in the prosecution case. A division bench of the LHC will take up the FIA appeal next week.

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2017