Musharraf acquitted by anti terror court in Akbar Bugti case

An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan on Monday acquitted former president Pervez Musharraf in a case pertaining to the alleged murder of former Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti.

The lawyer representing Bugti family told media that he will challenge the judgment in the higher court.

The anti-terror court rejected the request by Jamil Akbar Bugti, eldest son of the late Nawab Akbar Bugti, to order exhumation of the body of his father to confirm that the body buried in Dera Bugti was that of his father.

In a separate application, Bugti requested the court to summon the members of a parliamentary committee who met Akbar Bugti following the violence in Dera Bugti in March 2005 in which dozens were killed.

Jamil Bugti earlier named Gen. Musharraf, former chief minister the late Jam Mohammad Yousuf, former interior minister Aftab Sherpao and former home minister Mir Mohammad Shoaib Nausherwani in the FIR registered at the Dera Bugti police station.

Former president Pervez Musharraf was indicted in the case in January 2015. He was staying with his daughter in Karachi where he travelled for tests at a navy-run hospital in April last year and the indictment took place in his absence.

Musharraf was also on bail in other major cases linked to his time in power, including the 2007 assassination of Benazir Bhutto, anti-terror army action at Lal Masjid and the judges' detention.

Baloch leader Akbar Bugti was killed in an operation in Balochistan's rugged mountains of Taratani in Kohlu district on August 26, 2006.

Bugti had led an armed campaign to press for provincial autonomy and a greater share of profits from Balochistan's natural resources.

The death of the Baloch chieftain had sparked angry protests in parts of the country.