ISLAMABAD, Dec 15: An anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi has summoned key witnesses in the Benazir Bhutto murder case, including US lobbyist Mark Siegel, for recording their testimony.

The court also summoned former principal of Rawalpindi Medical College Dr Mussadaq Khan, Senior Superintendent of Police, Islamabad, Yasin Farooq, and other police officials, who are prosecution witnesses, to record their statements on Jan 5.

According to the Federal Investigation Agency’s Special Prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali, Mr Siegel had recorded a statement under Section 161 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) before a joint investigation team constituted in 2008. “He will again record his statement before the ATC judge because his earlier statement was recorded by an investigation officer and it cannot be used as evidence unless the witness is cross examined by the defence counsel,” he said.

Mr Siegel had stated before JIT that Ms Bhutto had received a telephone call on Sept 25, 2007, in his presence in Washington in the office of US Congressman Tom Lantos. She told him it was a very ‘bad call’ from Gen Pervez Musharraf, who had used “threatening and abusive language”.

Ms Bhutto said Mr Musharraf had warned her that her “safety depends on the state of our relationship” and that her security would only be guaranteed if she returned after the elections.

According to Mr Siegel, Ms Bhutto sent him an email on Oct 26, 2007, in which she expressed her sense of insecurity and informed him that if something happened to her, she would hold Gen Musharraf responsible for that, apart from the individuals mentioned in her Oct 16 letter to the former president.

In the letter, Ms Bhutto had named Brig Ejaz Shah (a former ISI official and then director-general of the Intelligence Bureau), Lt-Gen (retd) Hameed Gul (former director-general of Military Intelligence and Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, the incumbent Deputy Prime Minister.