RAWALPINDI, Aug 17 The federal government filed on Monday an application with an anti-terrorism court seeking postponement of proceedings in the case concerning the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Filing the application through Deputy Attorney General Shah Khawar, the government said since the case had been referred to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for re-investigation, it would be in the interest of justice to postpone the proceedings to enable the FIA team arrive at a definitive conclusion.

The government has set up a joint investigation team headed by a director of the Special Investigation Group to probe the Ms Bhutto's assassination.

“Needless to say that the earlier investigation by the local police was held under circumstances which were not conclusive for a fuller probe,” the government said in the application.

“Since a thorough investigation by the high powered investigation team is likely to unfurl the whole truth it needs requisite time for doing so.”

ATC No. 1 Judge Malik Akram Awan, who has been conducting the trial of five accused in the case - Aitzaz Shah (a juvenile), Sher Zaman, Abdul Rasheed, Rafaqat Hussain and Hasnain Gul — asked the defence counsel to appear in court on August 22 to decide whether the trial could be put on hold or not.

The arrested suspects had pleaded not guilty after the prosecution accused them of knowing the conspirators behind the assassination and helping the perpetrators.