Zia Govt releases Bhutto’s wife, daughter

Press, 10 April 1980, Page 9

Zia Govt releases Bhutto’s wife, daughter

NZPA-Reuter Islamabad The widow and daughter of the executed former Prime Minister, Zulfikar AH Bhutto, have been freed from six months of house arrest by Pakistan’s military rulers.

The surprise move by General Zia-Ul-Haq’s Government came on the eve of a High Court hearing at which judges were expected to order an end to their detention.

The two women, who as leaders of the late Mr' Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s] Party spearhead the opposition to military rule. were] given news of their freedomby Karachi Jail officials. ] Within minutes, armed] guards surrounding their Ka-i rachi home were withdrawn,! and Miss Benazir Bhutto and : her sister, Sanam, drove away to visit relatives. Mr Bhutto’s widow, ill with low blood pressure, stayed inside the house where she was being treated by a family doctor. Mrs Bhutto and her daugnter had been moved temporarily to the Karachi house for the court hearing. They had been held at the family’s estate at Larkana, in central Sind province, since October 16. They were detained at the same time General Zia cancelled a General Election planned for November 17, banned political parties and political activity, and jailed about 100 politicians and students.

The two women filed petitions with the Sind High Court in December, challenging their arrest as illegal on the grounds that the government had given no reason.

They said they had been harassed and denied statutory privileges granted to political prisoners in Pakistan.

Today’s hearing is the final stage in their appeal, and lawyers said the court was expected to rule in their favour.

The announcement by Sind’s Information Ministry lifting the detention order gave no reason for the move. j

Only one political leader now remains in detention, Air Marshal (retired) Asghar Khan, head of the Centrist Tehrik Istiqlal Party, who is also appealing against his arrest, to the Punjab High Court in Lahore.

Despite the lifting of house arrest, the Bhutto women remain subject to regulations banning political statements or criticism of the armed forces or military Government.