Pak anti-terror court asked to complete Bhutto murder case trial in 3 months

Pak anti-terror court asked to complete Bhutto murder case trial in 3 months Islamabad, Feb 14 : The Lahore High Court has ordered an anti-terrorism court to complete the Benazir Bhutto murder case trial in three months.

The Rawalpindi bench of LHC asked the ATC to conduct day-to-day proceedings and submit a report of its verdict to the court's registrar office in three months.

The court issued the order on a petition filed by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Jan 5.

The FIA had earlier filed three petitions for daily trial and the LHC had directed the ATC for expeditious disposal of the case, the Dawn reports.

FIA special prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali said that under the Anti-Terrorism Act, the ATC was bound to decide a case within a month.

The ATCs were also asked not to allow more than two consecutive adjournments during the trial of the case, the report said.

The FIA prosecutor pointed out that the LHC had at least three times ordered the ATC to decide the BB murder case expeditiously, but the trial court always dismissed the prosecution plea for day-to-day trial because of workload and engagements of defence lawyers, it added. (ANI)