RAWALPINDI, Dec 17: A division bench of Lahore High Court (LHC) here on Monday directed the anti-terrorism court for expeditious disposal of the Benazir Bhutto murder case.

The bench, comprising Justice Malik Anwarul Haq and Justice Chaudhry Mohammad Younus, issued the directions on an appeal filed by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), the prosecution agency in the case.

On June 22, 2012, the ATC had turned down the FIA plea seeking hearing of the case on a daily basis. The ATC was of the view that because of the workload the daily hearing of the case in the Adiala Jail was not possible.

Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali, the FIA special prosecutor, told the LHC that Ms Bhutto along with 23 other citizens was killed in a terrorist attack on December 27, 2007, and the case was still pending in the trial court.

He said the administrative judges of ATCs across the Punjab had been directed in the first week of this month for day-to-day hearing of cases pending in anti-terrorism courts. However, he added, the Benazir murder case was still being taken up once in a week. He said the high-profile case was one of the oldest pending in the ATC Rawalpindi.

Naseer Tanoli, one of the defence counsel, contended that it was also not possible for them to appear before the court on a daily basis because they were dealing with several other cases too.

He opposed the daily hearing of the case and requested the court that the dates may be fixed keeping in view the convenience of the defence counsel.—A Reporter