Scotland Yard begins probe into Benazir killing

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.

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.”

The Pakistan Government has ruled out a probe by the UN on the lines of the world body’s inquiry into the assassination of Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri, saying the circumstances in the two countries are different.

Naek said the British team should have been brought in after the October 19 suicide attack on Bhutto’s rally in Karachi that killed 140 people.

“But the Government refused to bring in any foreign investigators then. Now, when the PPP has demanded a UN inquiry, we fail to understand why the Government always creates obstacles, and does not listen to the aggrieved party,” said Naek, who is part of a PPP panel of lawyers that is drafting a formal petition for a UN inquiry.

Naek said petition would be approved by PPP’s co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari before being sent to the UN “after the weekend”.

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