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Warrant for Benazir

ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani court on Tuesday issued non-bailable arrest warrant for the exiled former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, and her husband Asif Ali Zardari for ``false declaration of assets'' to the Election Commission, officials said.

It is the second time the same court has issued arrest warrant for Ms. Benazir Bhutto and her husband in less than two months. All parliamentarians are bound to submit statements of their assets to the Election Commission. The state-run National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed the case in a local court that Ms. Bhutto and her spouse had filed a false statement in 1996, according to an official statement.

Judge Rafi-uz-Zaman of Islamabad District and Sessions Court issued the arrest warrant and directed the Interior Ministry to contact Interpol for their arrest. The judge ordered that they must be produced in the court on September 7, 2006.

The statement from the NAB said, ``It is alleged in the complaint filed by NAB against the accused that they have gathered immense wealth and property in foreign countries earned through illegal means and by commission of acts of corruption and corrupt practices.''

— Xinhua

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