Pak Oppn Lambastes Imran Khan Govt for Appointing Benazir Bhutto 'Murder Accused' as Minister

Lahore: Pakistan's opposition PPP on Friday criticised the government for appointing Brig (retd) Ijaz Shah as a federal minister, saying how come

Prime Minister Imran Khan included an accused in the murder case of former premier Benazir Bhutto in his cabinet.

President Arif Alvi approved the appointment of Shah, a former chief of Intelligence Bureau (IB) from 2004 to 2008.

Shah, a member of the National Assembly from NA-118 Nankana Sahib, will be the Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs. He was a confidant of former military dictator General Pervez Musharraf.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Secretary Information Nafisa Shah said: "During General Musharraf's rule, Ijaz Shah was massively involved in political engineering. Benazir Bhutto had said in an email that if she is assassinated, Ijaz Shah must be probed".

She said in a statement that the "puppet government of Imran Khan is a continuation of General Musharraf's rule".

"How come Prime Minister Khan can include an accused in the murder of former premier Bhutto in his cabinet which amounts to protecting a killer," she said in the statement.

PPP leader Palwasha Khan said his appointment is negation of the National Action Plan as making a "facilitator of terrorists" a federal minister is shelving it.

"Appointment of Ijaz Shah as minister shows that the purpose for which Imran Khan was brought to power is being fulfilled. An accused of murder of a global leader Benazir Bhutto was elected first through fraudulent elections and now he has been made a minister," PPP Senator Saeed Ghani alleged.