Confusion reigned in Pakistan with the local media reporting that the Pakistan government had asked the Interpol to withdraw the red corner notices issued against former Pakistani PM Benazir Bhutto and her husband Asif Ali Zardari. However the Pakistan government denied making any such moves.
Newspapers and TV channels in Pakistan reported the government’s request to withdraw the red corner notices which were issued in early 2006. It was reported that this request came after a court in Pakistan issued arrest warrants against both Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari for misrepresentation of their assets.
But the official news agency of Pakistan APP carried a denial by Pakistan’s interior ministry. “The ministry asserts that the red corner notices issued by National Accountability (NAB) Courts have not been withdrawn,” the interior ministry was quoted as saying.
Pakistani newspapers reported that the request for withdrawal was made after the special cell of Pakistan’s National Accountability Bureau (NAB) responsible for pursuing cases related to Ms. Bhutto and Mr. Zardari was closed down.
Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper quoted interior minister Aftab Khan Sherpao who was formerly a supporter of Ms. Bhutto as saying that Interpol had removed the names of Ms Bhutto and Mr. Zardari from its list of red corner notices on its own without the Pakistan government asking it to do so.
In another twist to the tale spokesman for Ms. Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Faratullah Babar said that the red corner notices were withdrawn in 2006 itself after the party made a representation before Interpol that the Ms. Bhutto and Mr. Zardari had been falsely implicated.
Via:- The Asian Age
Image Courtesy:- 3 Quarks Daily
