M A I N   N E W S

Bhutto gets 3-year jail for graft

Islamabad, July 9
A Pakistani court today convicted former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto of graft and sentenced her to three years in prison and ordered the confiscation of her property, officials said.

Ms Bhutto was tried in absentia in a case where she was accused of receiving kickbacks for granting a licence to a Dubai-based company, ARY Gold, to import gold into Pakistan, officials said.

The conviction announced by an accountability court in the nearby city of Rawalpindi revealed that ARY was granted “a monopolistic gold import licence” by the Commerce Ministry during Ms Bhutto’s regime in December 1994. AFP

Plot to kill Pervez: Rangers officer held

Islamabad, July 9
An officer of Pakistan Rangers was arrested today for his involvement in a conspiracy to assassinate President Pervez Musharraf.

Inspector Wasim Akhtar was the key member of a Harkat-ul Mujahideen al-Almi team that had planned to blow up an explosives-laden car on General Musharraf’s route in Karachi on April 26. He provided details of the President’s movements.

The attempt failed as the detonator did not work.

Akhtar and two others — Mohammed Imran and Mohammed Hanif of the Harka-ul Mujahideen — were booked today, according to the Director-General of Pakistan Rangers (Sindh), Major-Gen Salahuddin Satti. UNI