RAWALPINDI, SEPT 01 (DNA) – “It was surprising that they were never questioned regarding the case,” the court pondered. “After Bhutto’s assassination, Zardari became president and Rehman Malik became interior minister,” the ATC said in its 46-page long verdict released on Friday.

“Zardari and Malik were not subjected to criminal investigation,” the order observed.

Earlier, on Thursday the ATC announced the verdict, sentencing two police officers to 17 years imprisonment for being “negligent” while acquitting the five suspects belonging to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)—who were indicted in 2008. The court also declared then-president Pervez Musharraf an absconder in the case.

The verdict was announced by judge Muhammad Asghar Khan under strict security arrangements at Rawalpindi’s Adiyala Jail.

Former Rawalpindi police chief Saud Aziz and Rawal Town’s former Superintendent Police (SP) Khurram Shehzad were arrested immediately.

Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister of Pakistan, had been assassinated in a gun-and-bomb attack in Liaquat Bagh Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007. At least 23 Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) workers had also died in the incident.