Judge orders investigation into torture of Zardari

KARACHI: An additional district and sessions judge (ADJ) in Karachi ordered on Monday the Sindh police to record the statement of Asif Ali Zardari, the jailed husband of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, and, if necessary, register a criminal case against former chief of the defunct Ehtesab Bureau Saif-ur-Rehman, his brother Mujeeb-ur-Rehman, former IG Sindh Rana Maqbool and former DIG Karachi Farooq Amin Qureshi for torturing Mr Zardari in custody and instituting false cases of attempted suicide against him.

Mr Zardari, through his counsel Shaukat Hussain Zubaidi, had moved a private complaint against Saif-ur-Rehman, Mujeeb-ur-Rehman, Rana Maqbool and Farooq Amin Qureshi submitting that he was subjected to worst kind of torture when he was lodged at the CIA Centre in Saddar in May 1999.

Mr Zardari submitted that the judicial inquiry ordered to ascertain the charges of suicide against him had also held that he was tortured and he had not attempted suicide. In the light of the findings of the judicial inquiry, the Sindh High Court had allowed his acquittal application in the case of attempted suicide.

The court, allowing Mr Zardari’s complaint, ordered the police to record the statement of Mr Zardari and, if necessary, register criminal case against those whom he implicated in his statement. staff report

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