Scotland Yard sleuths on Friday began investigations into the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto soon after their arrival from the UK, a day after President Pervez Musharraf said he was “not fully satisfied” with the probe.
The five-member team from the Metropolitan Police’s Counter-Terrorism Command was briefed by Pakistani anti-terror experts on investigations conducted so far into Bhutto’s killing in a suicide attack last week.
However, Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party reiterated its demand for a probe into Bhutto’s killing by the United Nations, saying the Scotland Yard team could be made part of such an investigation.
The British team was briefed by officials of the Special Investigation Group, the anti-terror wing of Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency, which is heading the ongoing investigation. Officials from Pakistan’s Interior Ministry also met the team to discuss modalities for the probe.
A high-level meeting chaired by Musharraf on Friday to review the law and order situation also decided to extend complete cooperation to the British team.
Members of the Scotland Yard refused to speak to reporters on their arrival at the international airport here and at their hotel. The team is expected to visit the site in Rawalpindi where Bhutto was attacked by a gunman and a suicide bomber after addressing a rally on December 27. It was not immediately clear how long the team would remain in Pakistan.
The PPP asserted that the UN alone could carry out an “independent and impartial probe”. PPP leader and Bhutto’s lawyer Farooq Naek said: “We do not expect that any concrete material would be collected by this (British) team.”
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