Benazir sentenced to three-year term

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, JUNE 9. The grand plans of the former Pakistan Prime Minister, Mrs. Benazir Bhutto, to end her self-exile and return to Pakistan suffered a set back today with an anti-corruption court sentencing her to a three-year prison term for failure to appear before it in response to summons in connection with a corruption case.

After the Supreme Court, on April 7, quashed a High Court judgment against Mrs. Bhutto and ordered for a re-trial, she announced her intention to return to Pakistan some time in August.

She called senior leaders of her Pakistan People Party (PPP) to London for a review of the political situation in Pakistan and the mood in the party, a few weeks ago, was upbeat.

However, the verdict would mean that the PPP chairperson has to do a re-think about her plans.

Mrs. Bhutto had left Pakistan in April 1999, weeks before a court pronounced her guilty in a corruption case, and has since been abroad.

Accusing the military Government of `perverting justice and seeking revenge' against its leader because of her `stubborn refusal to accept military rule,' a party spokesperson warned the Government against fanning `ethnic bias and assaulting federation and democracy'.

The anti-corruption court judge, Mr. Rustam Ali Maslik, who heard the case, filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) relating to possession of assets disproportionate to her known sources of income, pronounced the sentence after being informed that Ms. Bhutto had failed to respond to the court's summons.

Mr. Malik, in his order, said he had awarded the sentence under NAB rules, which empowered courts to award punishment, in absentia of the accused. The NAB was constituted by the Musharraf Government after the October 1999 coup.

The verdict was a setback not only for Mrs. Bhutto but also for the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD). The ARD, consisting of 18 odd parties, had been trying to mobilise support against the Government and build up momentum to pressure it to hold immediate elections.

But, the order has not exactly come as a surprise. The authorities had all along been maintaining that the Supreme Court judgment did not mean the end of all cases against Ms. Bhutto.

Some senior Government functionaries had gone on record to suggest that she would be arrested if she chose to return to Pakistan as she was an accused in several other cases.

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