RAWALPINDI, Jan 3: What were the circumstances that prompted the late Benazir Bhutto to come out of her bullet-proof vehicle to respond to slogans of her supporters moments before she was killed?

The question was raised by two arrested former officers of Rawalpindi police in their bail petition on Monday.

They said those who were in the vehicle of Ms Bhutto at the time were yet to be questioned by investigators.

The special judge of Anti-Terrorism Court-III issued notices to the joint investigation team of the Federal Investigation Agency to respond on Jan 7 to the petition of former city police chief Saud Aziz and SP Khurram Shahzad.

The petition said there was no lapse in security provided by police and their advice that Benazir Bhutto’s vehicle should not stop anywhere after the rally in Liaquat Bagh had been ignored.

The circumstances that prompted the former prime minister to stand up and look out of her vehicle could only be explained by those who were with her, the officers said.

According to them, the colleagues of Ms Bhutto can say what happened to her mobile phone and dopatta. They said the case needed to be further investigated and they should not be kept in jail without any evidence against them.

Rejecting the charges of wrongdoing, they said the investigators had failed to prove that the hosing down of the crime scene had destroyed any evidence.

They said the statements of prosecution witnesses, SP Ashfaq Anwar, former principal of Rawalpindi Medical College Dr Musadaq Khan and rescue personnel, had been recorded almost two years after the incident.