ISLAMABAD, June 8: The three-member judicial tribunal has exonerated President Farooq Ahmed Leghari of any involvement in the killing of Mir Murtaza Bhutto, estranged brother of former Premier Benazir Bhutto, and has also dismissed speculation that the death was an accident. Without absolving the police force, the tribunal report, made public by the Government on Sunday, says the orders for the murder came from ``a higher authority,'' above that of the city police chief and the area police commander, who supervised the operation. The report mentions that the death was very much part of the extra-judicial killings that plagued Karachi in that period. The then city police chief, has been taken into detention by the provincial government.

The report is likely to have a direct fallout on Asif Ali Zardari, Benazir Bhutto's husband. Last week, in an interview with The Indian Express, de facto information minister Mushahid Hussain, who is also a close aide of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, promised that a ``solid case was being prepared against Zardari so that he is not able to go away scot free this time.''The death of Murtaza, who was killed in a shootout in Karachi in October last year, was one of the factors cited by President Leghari in dismissing the Government of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto a month later, on November 5. Leghari said the death was the result of deteriorating law and order in the country.

Benazir Bhutto indirectly accused Leghari and the ``establishment'' of being behind the death of her brother, with whom she had a troubled relationship because of his criticism of the way she ran the affairs of State. Time and again, Murtaza accused Asif Zardari of ``hijacking the party and the Government''. Ever since the fall of the Bhutto government, Zardari has been behind bars without any formal charge being brought against him.

The 242-page report was made public by the provincial Sindh government after the inquiry tribunal headed by Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid submitted their findings a few days back. Zardari is expected to be formally charged with the murder of his brother-in-law within a week or so, predict political circles.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.