Musharraf Declared Fugitive In Bhutto’s Assassination Case

Rawalpindi (Pakistan) : Pakistan Court has declared former military ruler Pervez Musharraf a fugitive in ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s assassination trial, ordering his property confiscated, a court official said on Thursday.

Musharraf was charged with Bhutto’s 2007 assassination in 2013 but has been in self-imposed exile in Dubai ever since a travel ban was lifted three years later. The official said he had “absconded”.

The court also acquitted five men who had been accused of being Taliban militants involved in the conspiracy to murder Bhutto, the Muslim world’s first female prime minister, the official said.

Musharraf’s government blamed the assassination on Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who denied any involvement. He was killed in a US drone attack in 2009.