PAKISTAN: GHINWA BHUTTO TESTIFIES ON THE DEATH OF HER HUSBAND, THE SLAIN BROTHER OF FORMER PRIME MINISTER BENAZIR BHUTTO

Record ID: 566032

  • Title: PAKISTAN: GHINWA BHUTTO TESTIFIES ON THE DEATH OF HER HUSBAND, THE SLAIN BROTHER OF FORMER PRIME MINISTER BENAZIR BHUTTO
  • Date: 24th February 1997
  • Summary: KARACHI, PAKISTAN (FEBRUARY 24, 1997) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. LV/SV EXTERIOR OF SUPREME COURT (2 SHOTS) 0.08 2. SV GHINWA BHUTTO'S VHEICLE ARRIVES/ SHE GETS OUT AND WALKS INTO COURT 0.19 3. LV JUDGES TAKE SEATS/ LAWYERS (2 SHOTS) 0.39 4. SV GHINWA ENTERS DOCK 0.52 5. LV GHINWA IN DOCK 0.56 6. SV GHINWA SAYS: "I AGREE IT IS A CONSPIRACY...BUT WHO HAS DESIGNED THAT? BENAZIR (BHUTTO) WAS CHIEF EXECUTIVE AT THE TIME. ALL THE CULPRITS WHO PULLED THE TRIGGER WERE FREE AT LARGE...INSTEAD SHE KEPT ON POINTING HER FINGERS IN ALL DIRECTIONS AND INVENTING ALL KINDS OF FAR-FETCHED THEORIES AND CONSPIRACIES" (ENGLISH) 1.42 7. GV INT COURT 1.47 8. LV GHINWA LEAVES COURT/ GETS INTO VEHICLE AND WAVES/ VEHICLES AWAY (4 SHOTS) 2.18 Initials s3, p3 Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 11th March 1997 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: KARACHI, PAKISTAN
  • City:
  • Country: Pakistan ASIA
  • Reuters ID: LVA1MQOUCFHPU4YFINBSJCKPT3AY
  • Story Text: INTRO: The widow of the slain brother of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto has told an investigating tribunal that her husband died as a result of a conspiracy, but she did not say who was behind it.

    Lebanese-born Ghinwa Bhutto testified before a three-judge tribunal of inquiry in Karachi on Monday (February 24).

    She said her husband had feared for his life, even though his estranged sister Benazir headed the government.

    "He was always apprehensive that his life was in danger," Ghinwa said, adding: "I agree it is a conspiracy. But who has designed that?" Murtaza Bhutto died in a hail of police bullets in Karachi on September 20. Police say his bodyguards fired first.

    Benazir's husband, Asif Ali Zardari, is in jail facing a charge of conspiring to murder Murtaza. He denies the charge.

    Ghinwa criticised Benazir for failing immediately to arrest the policemen involved in the shooting.

    "Instead, she kept pointing her fingers in all directions and inventing all sorts of far-fetched theories and conspiracies," she told the tribunal.

    Ghinwa said Benazir had tried to victimise and intimidate her brother before his death for speaking out against the former prime minister and her husband.

    Benazir has accused President Farooq Leghari of prompting Ghinwa to implicate Zardari in a murder conspiracy.

    Leghari, who dismissed Benazir's government on November 5 on disputed charges of corruption and misrule, has denied her allegations that he had conspired against her.

    Benazir's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) was routed in February 3 elections by Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League.


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