ISLAMABAD, March 3: The five accused in the Benazir Bhutto assassination case requested the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC), Rawalpindi, for taking action against prosecution for misleading the court by claiming that they were threatening witnesses.

The accused — Rafaqat Hussain, Husnain Gul, Sher Zaman, Aitzaz Shah and Abdul Rashid — submitted on Saturday their applications to ATC Judge Shahid Rafique during a hearing in Adiyala Jail.

They requested the court to direct the prosecution to prove the allegations and that if the prosecution failed to prove the charges then the court should take action against the prosecutors for submitting false applications.

Advocate Rao Abdul Rahim, one of the defence counsel, told Dawn that in addition to the applications, the defence counsel also filed a case against Interior Minister Rehman Malik for his briefing in the Sindh Assembly on Benazir Bhutto assassination case.

He said that in his briefing to lawmakers, Mr Malik crossed his limits as the matter was sub judice and he tried to influence the court proceedings by passing certain remarks.

Senior public prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali told the court that the accused was harassing the witnesses and the prosecution agency has sufficient evidence.

He said the court was responsible to protect the witnesses and ensure their security under section 21 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.

He said the defence counsel delaying the matter and still most of them were absent and seeking adjournments, adding that it seemed that they were more interested in lingering on proceedings than to disposal of the case.

The court, however, directed the defence counsel to conclude the cross examination at earliest.

The same court also took up the matter about the seizer of the property of former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf.

FIA prosecutor Ali told the court that a bank account with the title of “Pervez Musharraf Foundation” was a personal account of former president as during the flood relief or other humanitarian activities not a single rupee was donated to any affected person or to any of governmental or non-governmental humanitarian organisation.

Barrister Usman Rashid, legal advisor of HBL, told the court that they were operating a trust account under the said title and it was not a personal account of former president and therefore, could not be attached.