RAWALPIDNI, Sept 28 The Lahore High Court on Monday issued fresh notices to former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf and former chief minister of Punjab Chaudhry Pervaiz Illahi to submit their reply to a petition seeking registration of a murder case against them for killing former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Justice Chaudhry Mohammad Ijaz of the Rawalpindi bench also issued notices to former interior minister Gen (retd) Hamid Nawaz, former DG of Intelligence Bureau Ijaz Shah, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Babar Awan and former spokesman of the Ministry of Interior Brig (retd) Javaid Cheema, asking them to respond to the petition filed by Chaudhry Mehmood Aslam by the second week of November.

Amjad Iqbal Qureshi, former judge of the now defunct Islamabad high court, appeared in the court on behalf of Interior Minister Rehman Malik and former interior secretary Syed Kamal Shah. Police officers deployed on the place where Ms Bhutto was murdered were represented by additional advocate general Razzak A. Mirza.

The court had issued similar notices to the respondents last month to appear in the court in person or through their lawyers.

The petitioner through his lawyer Mohammad Asad Rajpoot has challenged the verdict of an additional district and sessions judge, Rawalpindi, setting aside his application under section 22-A of CrPC for a second FIR in the Benazir murder case.

The petitioner has alleged that the two serving ministers and former officials were involved in the conspiracy hatched in and outside Pakistan to assassinate Benazir Bhutto.

The petitioner pointed out that Ms Bhutto herself had pointed the finger of suspicion at Pervez Musharraf and Pervaiz Illahi for their alleged efforts to eliminate her. He alleged that police officers on duty had helped the killers by changing the route and washing away the crime scene on the night of Dec 27.

He also accused some PPP leaders of being involved in the murder because they escaped from the scene of the tragedy while the petitioner himself was injured. He alleged that Rehman Malik had derived financial benefits after the murder of Benazir Bhutto.

Separately, the bench issued notices to Judge Advocate General of GHQ and the deputy attorney general, asking them to submit their reply by Oct 12 and explain under what authority a lawyer has been kept in custody by the army for an indefinite period.

Taking up the petition filed by the wife of Advocate Nadeem Shah, the court asked the GHQ and DAG to inform it about the present status of Mr Shah and explain the legality of his detention.