A suspect in the October 18 bombing in Benazir Bhutto’s homecoming parade on Thursday issued legal notices to the publisher, printer and seller of her memoir, accusing them of defamation. Qari Saifullah Akhtar, who is under police custody on terrorism charges, made Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, legal heirs of Benazir, and the publishers of her book, respondents in the notices. Hashmat Ali Habib, the counsel for Akhtar, sent the notices under the Section 8 of the Defamation Ordinance, 2002. The notices say Benazir made derogatory remarks against Akhtar in her book “Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy and the West”. The book was launched on February 12. The notices said the respondents should be tried under the defamation law and the penal code of the country, adding that they were liable to pay damages of $200 million to Akhtar. |